Spiritual Solutions

Labor Day was a good reminder for us to take a little time to recondition the state of mind that colors every hour of our working days throughout the year. You may remember that Labor Day was set forth in 1882 to direct attention to the importance and dignity of work. It began as a holiday and in a sense a holy day.

When many are out of work at this time, but you are gainfully employed you might ask yourself the question, “Why do I work?” Because you have to? To earn a living? To provide food, rent, clothing for your family? If all you get out of your work is your pay and various fringe benefits, you are short-changing yourself.

We should work, not just to make a living, but to make a life, to release our creative potential, to fulfill some of the most basic needs of life. As Friedrich Froebel put it, “To embody outside oneself the divine and spiritual element within us.” The person who knows this is meticulous in putting his or her very best into what he or she does, in going the second mile, and in seeking to constantly improve the kind of service he or she renders.

It is significant that when the disciples James and John, whom the other disciples referred to as “sons of thunder” because of their energetic disposition, came to Jesus seeking to make sure of their future status, Jesus said to them, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be servant of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.” (Mark 10:43-45)

For many years this statement seemed a paradox, even absurd. Then business made a great discovery, that the key to success is service. Look around you, examine successful enterprises, and you will find they are in the main not those who are interested in quick profits but rather those who are ever striving to give greater value, more worth, more genuinely helpful assistance.

A doctor recently observed that in all his long years of practice he had found that those who are the healthiest and happiest are people who were habitually aware of the needs of others and tried to aid and support and give to them in every way that came to their mind.

The schooling of children should include the idea of service to others. Most children are concerned mainly with their physical well-being, but wise and responsible parents and teachers try to develop unselfishness and a spirit of service to others in them, which is the key to lasting happiness and success in this basically cooperative world. As Albert Schweitzer once said, that the person who would be really happy would be the one who has sought and discovered a way to serve. Their early years are the time to instill in young people the desire to “be about their Father’s business,” to make a positive contribution to the world and to the betterment of their fellows.

In the Gospel story, we find only a thumbnail sketch of Jesus’ years between age 12 and 30: “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:52) This has led to much controversy over what Jesus did, but whatever he did we can assume that it was a time of great commitment to “the Father’s business.”

We know that Jesus’ father Joseph was a carpenter and it is most likely that Jesus worked as an apprentice to him, learning how to use a plane, a hammer and a saw. One has the feeling that he would be taught by his father to be satisfied with nothing less than excellence in work.

Does it seem strange to think of Jesus in this way? It could be that on many a day for nearly twenty years, Jesus’ chief contribution to the Kingdom of Heaven was to make a door that would close softly or a window that would not jam, a plow that was sturdy and a yoke that would not fret the necks of oxen. Years later, Jesus used this very image while looking into the faces of those who were weary and heavy-laden, saying, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me . . .  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:29, 30)

We can be sure that Jesus did not suddenly develop a high consciousness the instant of his launching out to be a teacher. We can be sure that he spent long hours of study and meditation, “waiting upon the Lord” on the hillsides of Nazareth, after his work was done and his shop was closed.

This phrase, “waiting upon the Lord,” is used throughout the Bible but almost universally misunderstood. To “wait upon the Lord” means to integrate yourself with the power and potential of your spiritual nature. Waiting is not a matter of time, but of consciousness. We don’t wait for God to tap us on the shoulder, but for us to stay our mind on God, to become a channel for creative activity. We can do this by “waiting” upon the Lord every morning, getting the inner vision and power to move into the day’s work with eagerness.

You can become a relaxed worker, a humble, effective and prosperous worker. Try to capture the importance of the rhythm of waiting and working, waiting for the inner vision and the creative impulse and working with quality and creative drive that give definition and purpose to your life. As Emerson says, “Let what you are doing be organic in your bones, and you open the door by which the affluence of Heaven shall stream into your life.”

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

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“Guidance” is a common word in our day. Everyone seeks some kind of guidance: guidance for children, for adolescents, for marriage relationships, for the businessperson, and so forth. Occasionally, someone might suggest the idea of spiritual or “Divine” guidance.

Unfortunately, that suggestion may be looked upon with distrust, simply because the term “Divine guidance” is usually related to the magical, mystical or psychic. Yet there is an almost instinctive feeling in every person that there is a “Something” beyond personal prejudices, different from the mental state of worry and concern, and that this “Something” can be reached.

But this feeling for the “Something” has often been dealt with on the level of superstition. Thus, many persons look for guidance through a sign or leading, all the way from the flipping of a coin to reading the stars or the numbers, the cards, the tea leaves or the crystal ball, and then on to Indian guides and spirit readings. This is not to put down any of these pseudo-sciences, but rather to point up the fact that involvement in them is a subtle form of self put-down.

If any person evidences, even in a brief showing, some kind of inner direction or direct knowing, it is often identified as ESP or psychic phenomenon or spirit guidance. This is to malign our potential as a spiritual being, and to deny the inherent flow of guidance within us that is just as natural as the instinct of animals. Remember this dynamic statement from the book of Job: “There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty gives him understanding.” So why do we refuse to accept this inner knowing?

Maybe it is that religion has not really dealt with the whole of the person. The dictionary defines “religion” as “divine revelation for human guidance.” But most religions have become exteriorly oriented, dealing with God “out there” or “up there.” We may be told in impassioned sermons that our need is “to find God.” But God is not to be found – for God is not lost. 

It is not God’s hiddenness, but our blindness that is the problem. We live in a state of ceaseless guidance, in a field of Infinite knowingness, but we are blind and deaf to the process. Emerson says, “There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening we shall hear the right word.”

To find God, to understand God, we need to expand our thoughts to the realization of the omnipresence of God and then know, in the words of former Unity minister and author Eric Butterworth, “The whole of Spirit is present at every point in space at the same time, and in its entirety.” There is no distance between us and God. There is nowhere to go to get guidance or inspiration or creativity. We are in it, all of it, all the time!

Divine guidance, or spiritual guidance or “direct knowing” is the same as getting an immediate answer to prayer in time of need. It is but another way of explaining the work of intuition. The ancient wise ones called these occurrences “illumination.” The mystics called them “showings.” Many call them “leadings.” But again we lose the real idea if we see these things as some kind of special access to the inner secrets of the Universe, or some kind of psychism or divination.

The term “Voice of God” is purely a poetic expression. It is found all through the Bible.   And it has been terribly misleading for many people. The classic instance is Moses’ experience at the burning bush. “God called to him out of the bush: ‘Moses, Moses!’” This was an experience of direct knowing. The Bible writers used highly symbolic language and overstatement, such as describing locusts as big as giants that jumped from hill to hill. So they are saying in this passage about Moses that it was a knowing so clear that it was as if God was actually talking to him.

Remember, “The Father knows even before you ask Him”; “Before they call, I will answer.” This means that God is present – always and in all ways. God knows. God knows in you, for you. Knowing is, and it is at hand. It is now. The way out (the way to escape the difficulties at hand) is at hand.

But this guidance or direct knowing comes into consciousness most easily through a mind that is uncluttered with the known. If you know about a lot of things, it is difficult to know the Truth, which is to know the Knower. A creative mind, or a mind in a creative experience, is so involved in knowing that it lets go of what others know about, even if they know about things that indicate impossibilities.

Most people have preconceived notions which they bring into their prayer time. They have a strong idea of what they want to have happen, and often, even in seeking guidance they are actually looking for “Divine approval” of something they have already determined to do. To have the mind full of preconceived notions, even images and treasure maps representing outlined goals, is to frustrate the process of direct knowing.

The important thing to remember is that wherever you are, God is. The whole of Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is present in its entirety at every point in space at the same time. Spirit is present, as presence. All-knowing is present. The answer to your dilemma is present – here and now. There is nowhere to go, nothing to reach for, and no one to contact and plead with.

Prayer is communion, oneness, a listening. “Be still and know that I am God.” When you know that I AM is God, you humble yourself to listen; you expect to be guided. In childlike faith, you know the Knower within you that is always present.

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-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

Please feel free to publish this article in your blog or newsletter or share it with a friend, as long as you include this resource box.

If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

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