November, 2015

A Prayer of Appreciation

Treatment by Tim Phares, RScP

What you appreciate appreciates.

The idea for this treatment — and this phraseology — came to me Sunday during our “Music and Shared Wisdom” service at Celebration Center. Have you ever thought about the word appreciate? We say to someone, “I appreciate that.” What are we really saying? Think about buying land or some stock. You buy it and it appreciates — it increases in value. It’s more now than it was when you got it.

So when we appreciate something someone does for us or gives us, we add value to it. It becomes more than it was. We bless it and we appreciate it and thus we add positive energy, the energy of gratitude, thankfulness, appreciation — and we increase the blessing. We appreciate a nice day or good food, and we experience it even more fully, even more completely. We have a larger experience of it.

And so, let us remember to appreciate all the good that we find, because what you appreciate appreciates.

So I offer this prayer of appreciation:

There is only One Life, One Mind, One Intelligence, in, as. through, and around all. It is the Abundance of all that is.

That Life is my life right now. What it is, each of us is.

I simply stop to appreciate all the blessings that are in my life and those that are coming my way. I know that stopping to appreciate adds value to my experience, and I more fully experience the abundance of life.

I am grateful for this abundant life, for the fullest experience, for all the abundance that I experience.

In gratitude, knowing that all is well and all manner of thing shall be well, I simply let go and know that the richest and fullest is manifesting itself in every way. It is done and done richly, now and always.

And SO it IS!

Treatment for November 10, 2015

The Wiz – The Magic Is In You

It’s that time again. On Thursday, December 3, NBC will be presenting The Wiz Live (8 PM Eastern). The Wiz is a product of that period in the 1970s when Broadway was producing “all-black” versions of everything. It is an urban, African-American version of The Wizard of Oz. The show gave us the popular song “Ease On Down the Road”.

In a nice casting touch, Stephanie Mills, who originated the role of Dorothy in the 1975 Broadway cast, will be playing Auntie Em. The production will also feature Queen Latifah as the first female Wiz.

By now, the plot should be familiar to most readers. When we first encounter Dorothy, she’s wishing to get out of Kansas and see distant places. Auntie Em is telling her that she has everything she needs right where she is. Then a tornado blows through and suddenly Dorothy and her dog Toto find themselves not in Kansas. The house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her and freeing the Munchkins from her power.

Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North, shows up. Dorothy just wants to get home, and Addaperle suggests that her best bet is to go see the Wizard. She gives Dorothy the Witch of the East’s shoes and tells her not to take them off because they carry a powerful magic.

As she sets off down the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City of Oz, she encounters a Scarecrow who is looking for a brain, a Tin Man who is looking for a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who is looking for courage. Eventually, they make their way to the gates of the Emerald City. They are admitted to see the Wiz because Dorothy is wearing the shoes of the Wicked Witch of the East. The Wizard agrees to give them the things they are looking for if they kill the Wicked Witch of the West (named Evilene in this version).

As they approach Evilene’s realm, she sends her Winged Monkeys to kill them. They destroy Scarecrow and Tin Man and they bring Dorothy and the Lion to the castle, where they and Toto are forced to do menial work and Evilene tortures Toto and the Lion in front of Dorothy. Finally, Dorothy throws water at the Wicked Witch and she melts. This frees the Winged Monkeys from the witch’s spell and they restore Scarecrow and Tin Man to their prior states.

They return to the Emerald City, where the Wizard reneges on the promise made. The screen that hides the Wiz is overturned and the Wizard is exposed. The Wiz confesses that he (in this production, she) is just a balloonist from Kansas who drifted to Oz by accident and they made him Wizard. The Scarecrow, The Tin Man, and the Lion are given symbols of what they are seeking.

The Wiz takes off for Kansas, but Dorothy misses the balloon. Addaperle appears, suggesting that Dorothy ask Glinda, The good Witch of the South, for help getting home. They are transported to Glinda’s palace. Glinda tells Dorothy that the shoes have always had the power to take her home, but that she had to believe it for it to work. “The magic is in you.” Dorothy bids farewell to her companions, clicks her heels three times, and returns home.

What do we learn from this? Well, for one thing, what you ask for, you get. Dorothy wants to see distant places, and she gets to see Oz. Then she wants to go home, and she winds up back at home in Kansas.

The Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion receive symbols that remind them that they had the things they were looking for all along, but didn’t recognize them. They had to be shown that they possessed these qualities. But during their adventure, Scarecrow demonstrates his brains, Tin Man demonstrates his heart, and the Lion demonstrates his courage. All you need and all you’re seeking is already there, waiting to be recognized.

And finally, there is the magic of the shoes. To activate the magic in you, you must believe. But as Dorothy learns, the magic is in you. Will you recognize it? What will you do with that magic? In Dorothy’s case, it takes her home – both physically and in the metaphysical sense of being where you belong, where Divine Order is playing out in your life. And Dorothy recognizes the blessing of home.

And there is no place like home. In every sense of the word.

An Attitude of Gratitude

Treatment by Ed Preston, RScP

Prelude

The following lines are from a Seaside Center for Spiritual Living Daily Inspiration for November 6, 2015, by Rev. Christian Sorenson, in California.

I read this headline, “The Single Thing That Guarantees Success,”…

What is this secret? It is the attitude of gratitude, the expression of appreciation, the ability to give thanks throughout one’s day and interactions. What a novel concept . . .

Our Celebration Center Choir is singing a song this month titled, “Attitude of Gratitude”, by Marshall Stern and Richard Mekdeci, so this daily message from Rev Christian got my attention immediately. I love the song and I loved his daily message. I am so grateful for an attitude of gratitude.

Treatment

I come peacefully and gratefully into my place of quiet, looking out into a beautiful dark sky that now comes so much earlier. I just accept this daily shift from light to darkness as the divine nature of my earth and solar system and all beyond. I recognize my own divinity as I feel my gratitude for the day-times and night-times of my life. I share this gratitude with all who share in these days and nights.

I allow my day-times and night-times to blend into single days which converge into beautiful weeks, becoming glorious months, that unify to become a divine year in my life and the life of all. We become One in our gratitude for these days and weeks and months and years.

I now realize that my “attitude of gratitude” transcends time, yet pervades it, and instills it with a sense of joy and love of life that comes loudly and quietly, pervasively and presently, overtly and subtly into my life and all life. We are one in our Gratitude and we accept that as an Attitude.

I find it possible to now be gratuitously grateful for my gratitude. I allow it to be and simply say “thank you” Spirit for my Attitude.

So, I now release these words into the Law of Life and Love, knowing they fly forth also into a new day. Tomorrow brings the light and bright sky that now comes a bit earlier, and allows our gratitude to become a real attitude. We let it be, gratefully.

And so it is, Amen.

Treatment for November 9, 2015

The Grand Picture of Divine Evolution

Treatment by Jenn Fay, RScP

Life Flows from One Creative Source that Shines with Love & Delights in All That Is, seeing the Grand Picture of Divine Evolution.

This One Life is always revealing Itself more fully through every Life. As we embrace this Truth, more Truth is revealed in this moment of now. We discover a greater version of Truth through our willingness to evolve, to listen, to know. It is in this Knowing that our consciousness expands to see Grander Possibilities. We are consciously awake, allowing & inviting Spirit to access our Lives. In the Grace of this Sweet Connection our Lives demonstrate many more possibilities than ever before. It from this new level of experience that we speak of a Higher Experience of Truth.

Every Life is becoming, evolving, transforming… The Mystical Change suits us, for we Shine with the Power of Knowing that which expands the Life Experience.

It is with deep gratitude that we align as One & Celebrate the One Life reflecting through each of us. We find Rich Sustenance in every Blessing & it moves us forward into Life, into Love, into Peace, into Wholeness, into trusting more fully this Sacred Adventure in Being.

Releasing all these ideas & desires into the Universal Law, we relax & breathe into this moment, this moment, & this moment of Love & Joy…

And so it is!

Breathing into this Sacred Moment ~

Peace & Light,

Treatment for November 7, 2015

Peanuts: Flying Higher, Reaching Out, Seeing Anew

Suzanne and I went to see The Peanuts Movie. (Yes, we like kids’ movies. They often contain metaphysics. I have long said that one of my very favorite metaphysical movies is the 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.) I love Peanuts, so this movie appealed to me.

The Peanuts Movie centers around Charlie Brown’s pursuit of The Little Red-Haired Girl, with a delightful subplot regarding Snoopy’s latest novel, in which he, as The World War One Flying Ace, is chasing a female canine flying ace named Fifi. Fifi gets shot down by the Red Baron and Snoopy, of course, has to rescue her. There are many funny Peanuts complications to that and he just misses several times before he manages to bring Fifi back to safety on his doghouse Sopwith Camel, to the cheers of his crew (Woodstock and his bird friends).

Meanwhile, we have Charlie Brown’s situation. The movie opens in the winter with all the kids playing hockey, except Charlie Brown, who, on a snow day, is still trying to get that kite in the air. If you know Peanuts, you know how that goes. Lucy is showing off her figure skating.

All of this is interrupted by a moving van. The name of the moving company is a bit of an inside joke. (See if you pick up on it.) It turns out that a new family is moving in across the street from Charlie Brown. Their daughter, of course, is The Little Red-Haired Girl.

Charlie Brown tries many things to impress her. He tries to learn to dance and has some impressive moves before disaster strikes. He draws her as a book report partner, finds out that she’s away for the weekend, seeks out “the best novel”, and winds up with War and Peace. Somehow, he manages to read it in a weekend and writes a report. The first draft is typically plain: “This report is about War and Peace. First there was war. Then there was peace.” When that report gets destroyed and Charlie Brown has to start all over again, he writes what Linus calls “the finest piece of literary analysis I have ever read.” Of course, it gets hilariously destroyed, leaving Charlie Brown in desperation.

A few more embarrassing complications ensue in his pursuit of The Little Red-Haired Girl. Finally, we arrive at the last day of school. Everyone is to select a pen pal for the summer. They draw names and when Charlie Brown’s name is drawn, nobody wants to be his pen palt. Finally, one student speaks up: “I’ll do it.” It’s The Little Red-Haired Girl. So Charlie Brown works up the courage to go over and speak to her (and return her chewed-up pencil), only to find that she’s heading to summer camp. (Doesn’t it figure?)

He finds her at the bus and asks her why she chose him, the clumsy, incompetent, inept blockhead. She says she doesn’t see him that way, citing the dance, the book report, and a few other things. He hands her her pencil, which she has been looking all over for, and she gets on the bus, promising to write him.

What do we learn? Well, persistence pays. Charlie Brown is so focused and persistent in his pursuit of The Little Red-Haired Girl that he does things he wouldn’t ordinarily have tried to do. As a result, who he really is comes shining through. Also, Snoopy’s dedication in his pursuit of Fifi ultimately wins the day.

And we learn to look at ourselves through new eyes and see the best. All the kids view Charlie Brown as a loser and a blockhead, but The Little Red Haired Girl sees him differently, and her view encourages Charlie Brown to see himself differently.

And of course, through both Fifi and The Little Red-Haired Girl, we see the power of love. Love is a great driver to make us reach higher and farther.

Oh – and stick around for the closing credits, not just to see how very many people it took, but for Meghan Trainor’s song that runs under the credits, “Good to Be Alive”. The lyrics are quite upbeat and positive, very much in tune with our philosophy. (You can read them at http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/meghantrainor/goodtobealive.html)

All in all, this is a delightful day at the movies with a sweet, humorous, metaphysical tinge. I highly recommend that you get some good popcorn and reacquaint yourself with the Peanuts gang.

Practicing Gratitude for All Our Blessings

Treatment by Rich Kurasiewicz, RScP

Brrrr—it’s starting to get a little chilly and Thanksgiving is around the corner, which means that Christmas will also be here. There is change all around. We remain busy and all the same, daily spiritual practices, including practicing gratitude for all our blessings, are a must. As such changes occur it’s our daily spiritual practices that help to keep the right balance and harmony in our lives lest we be like corks on the seas. And so we pray…

God is the One Power and the Presence. God is Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent—the Alpha and the Omega. God is in everything and everyone; the entire Universe—the Creator and the Creation; all Life and everything there is. I am that I am. I am of the Power and the Presence and one of the entire Universe and of all Life.

Just as I am perfect, whole and complete, I know that each and everyone is Perfect, Whole, Complete, Eternal and Immortal. I declare that each and everyone recognizes the Truth that sets them free—each and everyone is an individualized expression of the Divine and the one Life. Gratitude, love and joy, peace and abundance are manifest in the lives of everyone as the gift is made and is accepted with gratitude. I declare that each and everyone experiences the Presence of the Divine in their lives and is a blessing to themselves and everyone they come into contact with—the light shines forth from within! I know that All is truly well.

I am so very grateful for the Blessings of Spirit and that Peace, Love, Joy and Abundance are accepted and manifest in our lives with expectation of our Good and in tremendous gratitude. I am so very grateful for the Presence of Spirit and the gifts that have been made. I am grateful for each and everyone and the Truth that sets us free.

And I release my Word unto the Law where it is already known to the Mind of God. I declare that my Word shall not return unto me void. I give thanks that this is so and so it is!

Treatment for October 27, 2015

Gratitude

Treatment by Tammi McKinley, RScP

Everywhere I look, I see God. For God is all there is. This beautiful Fall day. The changing leaves upon the ground. The last lingering wildflowers holding their color. It’s all God.

I know that I am the perfect expression of the Divine. As I know this of myself, I know this of each and every person reading this, each person throughout the world. We are all of that God substance.

I speak my word of gratitude. For the gifts of today. For the beauty. For me making another trip around the sun on my birthday today. For the wisdom, love and peace that is always there for us to enjoy.

And I give thanks for this knowing. I am grateful for knowing that the one Presence works in, as, through and with me and each one of us, everyday. All the time.

I release my words into the Law where they are already known in the One mind. I let it go. I let it be.

And so it is.

Treatment for October 22, 2015

FROG – First Rely On G-d

Treatment by Caron Ward, RScP

Recently I have been feeling overwhelmed. There have been days that I feel uncertain, lacking confidence about something I am to do. It is these times when I simply stop, let go, and as a Practitioner once told me – I FROG – First Rely On G-d….

For I am absolutely certain that there is One ever – present Spirit, that I call G-d, that lives, moves, creates, loves, and has Its being in all that is.

This Presence is always expressing in all parts of Life, in the dark and the light; in the stillness and in chaos; in the tiniest bits of sand and in the vastness of the oceans that wash upon our shores; It is all G-d. There is nothing that I can experience, nowhere that I can be, that G-d is not.

It is this loving, powerful, creative spirit that is forever guiding, sometimes with a gentle nudge and sometimes with an insistent shove; always moving us to be the best version of our selves; to achieve what it is we desire. It is with my faith in this Divine Guidance, that I can let go of doubt and just allow the uncertainty, knowing that I cannot know all that is, but that I will know what is mine to know. I will do what is mine to do. All the right words are spoken and right actions are taken. I simply accept them as mine. I relax into this knowing, letting all doubt slip easily away.

And I am grateful for my faith in G-d, in G-d expressing as all Life. I am grateful for the Light that is shone upon my path by this Presence, the Light that allows me to move steadily forward. The Light that reminds me that I am truly blessed, for G-d is always present.

It is with faith and gratitude that I release my words into the Law, knowing they are True and

So it is.

Treatment for October 15, 2015

One Power

Treatment by Tim Phares, RScP

We had an interesting day yesterday. Despite being October, it was HOT in this house. Then in the evening the power went out. (Does anyone know who won Jeopardy!?)

This evening, we’re going out to dinner.

So I focus on power and abundance.

Daniel Nahmod has a wonderful song called “One Power”. Most of us know it. It’s useful when there is no power in your house to remember that the One Power is always there. And it’s good to receive a new card in the mail and be reminded of the abundance of that One Power filling our lives.

No matter what, Life takes care of Itself.

And so we pray.

I know that there is only One Power, only One Life, only One Presence. It is good, it is perfect, it is abundant, it is All, and it is my life right now.

I know that that Power protects, enfolds, and empowers my life. That Abundance fills my life.

I remember that the Universe is programmed for abundance — so whatever I focus on, I get an abundance of it. What we focus on expands. So when it’s completely dark, when the “power is out”, I light a candle and remember to focus with gratitude on the blessings.

I am grateful for this focus and this understanding. I am thankful for the abundance of the universe.

And I let go, knowing that the One Power protects and delivers unfailingly, so everything that blesses and expands my life is manifest now and always.

And SO it IS!

Treatment for October 10, 2015