Gratitude Journal • Abundance
by Letha Kiddie •
Try to Do Your Best!
~ by Jesse McCaughey ~
There’s a song from my college days by Ben Harper that I really liked. It talked about doing your best. The first two verses went like this:
If you’re gonna live, live it up, and if you’re gonna give, then give it up.
If you’re gonna walk the earth, then walk it proud,
And if you’re gonna say the word, you’ve got to say it loud.
If you’re gonna build a house, make it a home
If you’re gonna pull some weight, then pull your own.
If you’re gonna help, man, just reach out your hand,
And if you’re getting up, then take a stand.
The moral of the song is that you don’t want to do things halfway; you’ve got to go all the way and put everything you have into it. If you’re going to spend the time doing even what may be considered a menial job, you might as well do a good job.
It’s the small stuff that matters. It’s easy to want to do things well that you’re interested in, but like the song says, your life is everything that you do, and it pays to try your best with everything.
I thought about why it’s important to try your best even at things like cleaning your room, and the answer I came up with was that when you try to do your best, you have the best possibility of a positive result, and the great thing about positive results is that they make you feel good.
Beyond that, they’re kind of reminders, large and small, that your true Self is limitless, and can accomplish great things. The real you, that cruises around in your body and gets to live and touch and smell things, has eternal wisdom, and the power to manifest heaven on earth.
God is in you and everywhere. I like to focus on that, and besides being everywhere, everyone can find their own prayer within themselves each day, and live according to that.
Coax God to Come Sit with You
by Norman Paulsen, Sunburst Founder •
It is said that Jesus encouraged his disciples to follow him to an upper chamber. He was not speaking of an upper chamber in a house, but of the region of the great higher brain with its dual hemispheres that we are all wearing right now. This miraculous upper chamber was created for God to inhabit with us—for Christ consciousness to dwell in. When awakened it can comprehend the drift and design that projects and sustains this whole creation. How do we gain access to this great brain in the upper chamber?
Through meditation the descending baptism of illuminating fire enters in through the crown of our heads and bathes and nourishes our great higher brain. We can open up to God’s message and divine will through meditation by coaxing and asking that cosmic light to enter into us.
Through meditation you become aware of the dual forces that created us. The masculine force descends through the crown of the head to our beating hearts. The feminine force descends to the base of the spine, wrapping us in a cocoon of light. It then arises to meet the waiting groom in the bridal chamber of the heart. It is here that the dual forces of Spirit create a greater consciousness, a divine Being within us. It is the Christ child awakened and brought forth from our soul. This is the Immaculate Conception!
As this Christ child grows within us, we are able to live a virtuous life. We are able to see our virtuous desires, projected for the good of the world, materialize before our eyes.
Inward from the temples, behind the root of the nose and down from the opening on the crown of the head is the pituitary center. This is the throne of God within us. This is where we sit with the Light of Consciousness, the Christ, I Am That I Am, our Divine Mother and Father. We look out with these two eyes upon the world and are able to say, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” Within us, the divine will directs our lives and directs that divine birth within our souls. This is salvation.
Keep the door on the crown of the head open twenty-four hours a day. Coax God to come in and sit with you in the upper chamber. It is the most blessed thing you can ever experience. All wisdom, knowledge, love and understanding will come to you. Rejoice and know that God is waiting to enter into you if you but seek it, if you but ask.
Discipline yourself to go twice a day, each morning and evening, programming your great brain with the things our world needs, works that you can accomplish in your own unique way. What a wonderful thing to be guided as you walk through life! I thank God every day for leading me to this knowledge, this truth, this love.
Finding Balance
by Letha Kiddie •
I love the equinoxes and solstices, time posts of the Earth’s sacred cycles. The equinoxes bring us equal days and nights, reminding us to strive for balance in our lives, and reminding us of the cosmic forces always at work. We especially see this in nature, as Mother Earth strives to keep her elements in check, trying to balance the actions of mankind. Equinoxes are also a signpost of change ahead, leading to either an expansion or a contraction of light and warmth. It gives us time to prepare both physically and emotionally for a shift whether we are conscious of it or not.
These ancient cycles are no longer honored outwardly for their gifts and importance in our lives, but their messaging to our subtle bodies still affects us. If we slow down our frenetic pace we can glimpse something very sweet as the seasons change and bring us a gift. Fall brings us the brilliant colors before the leaves fall from the trees and the abundance of the late harvest. Spring brings us the birds returning to build their nests and the bright colors of early flowers.
Humans have been given the responsibility of balancing their desires with their awe of and gratitude for the natural world, as well as a responsibility to help maintain its delicate balance. We have been named caretakers of the world we live in, including finding balance in our bodies, our homes, and in the communities we build. As we celebrate the changing of the season, let us reflect on the current balance of our lives and adjust accordingly.
Sanctuary
Poem by Leela
Why Are We Here?
by Norman Paulsen •
Where have we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going when we leave? Are there any real answers to these questions? We have our scriptures from the past to turn to, the words of men and women who have attained states of consciousness called illumination, enlightenment, God-realization, Self-realization.
We can read, we can hear, and we can try to believe. But we are the ones, right at this moment, who are faced with ourselves and what we are doing with our lives. What really is going to happen to us when we leave here to face eternity, that great beyond of which we know so little?
We want to believe that God is alive, hears our prayers and is somehow going to attend to us on that moment when we take our last breath. We spend our lives pursuing our desires, raising our families, addressing the many demands of life. But why are we here today in these bodies, on this planet? Why did Divine Spirit create all that we see?
Evolution on this planet has brought us to this day, beginning ages ago when the evolved animal forms moved into simple consciousness and finally into self-consciousness. Humankind now stands on the threshold of Cosmic consciousness, Chirst consciousness, Illumination. The human brain is now opening up into the higher brain. The upper reaches of this higher brain have been for the most part unused. Yet, the Divine has fashioned this sacred place within our bodies so that it can enter and be fully conscious in us.
The Creator, our Divine Mother and Father want to walk on the worlds they projected and created. They can do so within these bodies we find ourselves in today. The Divine set forth to create an existence for itself on this world, destined to become fully conscious within each one of us.
Our amazing higher brain will allow us access to the sixth sense, the Christ sense, the Cosmic sense, the knowledge of the whole cosmos. It is inner-dimensionally connected to the very beginning of this creation, to the first Light that was created: “Let there be Light!” We are the offspring of this light, I Am That I Am. We are the encapsulation of the whole creation. It exists within each one of us inner-dimensionally.
There is no place to go “out there.” There is a place to go within yourself, to the Light that created you and is manifesting you today. We have the ability and the tools to see our Creator face to face within ourselves—to receive that Divine knowledge and guidance, that true wisdom, peace, and love.
I feel we are now entering an age on this planet where meditation tools will be given to the people—not only statements from a pulpit and promises that may or may not happen. I believe in a meditation tool that, if practiced faithfully with love and devotion for God, will give each individual the ability to go within themselves and meet the Divine face to face. You don’t have to go anywhere, it’s all right within you. The whole creation is right within you.
