Unity Spiritual Life Center Blog

Someone only has to say: “Ho, Ho, Ho,” and you know instantly who they are imitating. Santa Claus, Old St. Nick, Kris Kringle, Sinter Klaas are all titles we give to the omnipresent, legendary, white-bearded bearer of Christmas gifts — the embodiment of the spirit of giving.

But Christmas has become big business. Retailers have not been selling the ‘giving spirit’ — they’ve been selling the ‘buying spirit’ — for centuries. We’ve lost sight of what the real St. Nicholas gave us — the gift of giving — unselfish, spirit-filled giving.

So, what would Jesus have to say to St. Nick’s highly commercialized 21st Century, decked out in red Ho, Ho, Ho, counterpart Santa Claus? If Jesus would write today’s Santa Claus a letter, we think it would go something like this:

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Dear Santa:

Rather than tell you what I want for Christmas, I have the gift of an invaluable piece of advice for you: Please — remember who you really are! You know, the authentic Saint Nick and I are kindred spirits . . . we have a lot in common! We both represent unconditional giving — and both our images have been misinterpreted and confused as time has passed. You and I, we’ve both been used to create guilt trips — which was never our intention — and folks seem to think we have nothing better to do than maintain lists of good and bad behavior — as if that were the issue at all! It is so important for you to keep your focus, and continue to do what it is you are here to do — spread the spirit of joy and unconditional giving to the world. And by the way, you’ve got to stop eating all those cookies and milk treats!

Here’s how I wish people would give - Unconditionally!

1. Unconditionally give of their Time
2. Unconditionally give of their Talents
3. Unconditionally give of their Treasures.

Santa, you can help people get this message, if you remember who you really are!

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Since Jesus is speaking to the Santa in each of us — that part of us that really does understand the spirit of unconditional giving, but sometimes forgets — let’s see how we can take His advice to heart this holiday season!

1. Give of your time: Time is such a valuable commodity. We are so caught up now with the gadgetry and intricacy of electronics that we’ve actually put ourselves into a time trap! We are more pressured and rushed than we’ve ever been. We worry so much about what gift to buy for people who do not need anything. What if we gave the gift of our time? How often has a loved one said to you, “I don’t need a gift. Your presence is all the presents I need!” Let’s believe that — and look for ways to give the gift of our time this season.
2. Give of your Talents: What are your unique gifts, and how could you use them to bring joy and love to others? Consider this: What do dolphins; pool plastic, Guinness Book of World Records, and a herdsman from Inner Mongolia have to do with giving of your talents? They all shared the same article in a news story: The herdsman’s name is Bao Xishun. At 7-foot-9, Bao was confirmed by Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest living man in the world. His arms are 41.7 inches long! What made him important in terms of giving? It seems some dolphins had gotten seriously ill after nibbling on plastic from the edge of their pool at an aquarium. Surgical instruments could not extract the material (because of the shape of the dolphin stomach it is difficult to push instruments very far without hurting the animals), so vets decided to seek the help of Bao Xishun. He was able to reach his arm into the stomachs of the sick dolphins and remove the dangerous material! His unusual arms became the saving mechanism for the dolphins!What are your talents — and how can you use them to reach out to others, bringing joy and love?
3. Give of your Treasures: The critical issue here has nothing to do with the amount of money you have — it is the generosity of your spirit in giving what you possess. We saw a perfect example when we had lunch recently at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Mebane, NC. Our waitress was just great — fabulous energy, beautiful spirit, and very talented at her job. She made us feel so welcome as she served us with such joy. We were led to give her an unusually large tip, in recognition of the way she served us! When she saw her tip, she thanked us profusely — then excitedly told us that she was using all her tips this week to purchase things for children whose names were on the Angel Tree at the restaurant. Sure enough, we saw the tree, and when she opened her order book, there were four cut-out angels in her book. She said, “Now I can go get a few more angels off the tree!”

Think about your unique treasures — and how can you see them from a spirit of unconditional giving? Believe us; you will be blessed many times over.

Remember what Jesus said to Santa? That is the identical message for each of us: Remember who you really are! And that will make Christmas, and the New Year, the best you have ever experienced!

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No is one of the most difficult words to deal with, especially when we desperately desire something, or feel it is critical for our success and happiness. In sales, NO is the leading cause of ‘fear of rejection complex’ that causes so many people to get out of business!

‘No’ was a difficult word for Bil and me to hear when we created amazing proposals, only to discover someone else was selected to do the job. But here’s how we began to hear the YES in NO. We started saying “Thanks for saying no!”

For example, when we received news that we weren’t chosen to give a keynote presentation we immediately followed up with a note, thanking the prospective client for giving us the opportunity to be chosen ~ and included positive affirmations for them to have a terrific conference.

Then we offered our services for up-coming events. We also indicated that, should something happen at the last minute where they found they needed a speaker, to feel free to call us. We usually

Incredibly, we found that we were often contacted immediately to discuss next year’s conference! We had learned how to find the YES in NO by looking at a more long-term response.

How often do you run into obstacles which seem to wave a big red ” NO” in front of you? It seems so easy to just cave in, and say, “Forget it!” But in Mark 10:27, Jesus makes a remarkable statement: “With God, all things are possible.” What exactly does that mean? It creates all kinds of debates, like “Yeah, possible, but how probable?” Or “This sounds good, but it won’t work in the real world!”

Suppose someone asked you to cut a hole in a 5×7 card big enough for a person to step through it. Because you’re a good Truth practitioner, you’d want to act like a believer. So you’d say, “All things are possible” and you might even take action - but in the end you might throw up your hands and say, “This stuff doesn’t work!”

As we make that connection with the Christ of us, our God center, we are open to the Divine Flow of everything we ever need. However, until we make that connection, our human self sees the appearance of obstacles, of “NOs.” So, how do we move through that process, so we can always find the YES in No?

THE ‘YES in NO’ PROCESS:

1) Expect the Yes in No

This relates completely to an attitude of expectancy. So often, we get exactly what we expect. Not necessarily what we want, or what we hope for - but what we expect! Shakespeare said it long ago: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Sometimes we create huge NO’s simply due to our expectations, which translate into our behaviors. For example, from a survey of top personnel executives of 100 major American businesses, here are some of the accounts of bizarre behavior by job applicants:

• “… said she was so perfect that if he didn’t get the job, it would prove that the company’s management was incompetent.”
• “… announced he hadn’t eaten lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and french fries in the interviewer’s office.”
• “Balding candidate suddenly excused himself. Returned to office a few minutes later, wearing a hairpiece.”
• “…she vomited on my desk, and immediately began asking questions about the job, like nothing had happened.”
• “When asked the reason for leaving last job: They insisted all employees arrive at work by 8:45 am every morning. I couldn’t work under those conditions.”

We do it to ourselves! So what do we expect?

Lowell Fillmore shares how Adam named the animals in the creation story, and says that in like manner, we can name our conditions as either bad or good, yes or no. Since we have this creative power, why not name things good?

Look at how fickle the concept of Good versus Bad is. Just one example: Is coffee good or bad for you? Depends on what research you find. A recent Harvard research article outlined in WebMD that coffee lowers your risk of diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and colon cancer-lifts your mood and treats headaches-improves athleticism, and can even lower your risk of cavities!

So begin now to Expect the Yes in No!

2) Embrace the YES in NO.

This means creating an attitude of joy, knowing that at the level of spirit, it already is. It is important to realize that what you think of or experience is more important than the thing or experience itself. Whenever you become aware of a blockage that seems to be saying “NO!” immediately affirm YES!

We create what we call the “Apostrophe Effect” ~ which we’ve shared before, but believe it is so important we want to share it again. When you face the NO’s of life, remember this. Imagine the word IMPOSSIBLE. Put an apostrophe between the ‘I’ and the ‘M.’ what does it spell now? I’M POSSIBLE! Practice creating the ‘Intention of Embracing the YES in NO.’

3) Expand the Yes in No.

Here we’re indicating the need to it on  projecting the attitude of hope and encouragement to others. You can begin educating others so that instead of asking “Why did this happen to me?” they learn how to ask the question, “How can I use this for good?” Here’s a little tip for you: It’s all in how it’s spelled!

You run smack into a difficult situation, and immediately you see N-O, NO! But suppose you changed the spelling to K-N-O-W, KNOW? This becomes a trigger to remind you that you KNOW there is a YES in that No, and you KNOW that you are one with Divine Substance, where all things work together for good - where all things are possible!

And just in case you run into a really tough situation that challenges your belief to the fullest, contact us to show you how you can step through a 5×7 index card.

We K-N-O-W, KNOW, that all things are possible when we we connect with our Christ Center! And as you practice the art of ‘Expecting the Yes in NO,’ ‘Embracing the Yes in No,’ and ‘Expanding the Yes in No,’ you will reap the benefits in terms of walking the spiritual path on practical feet!

WE absolutely love the TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ~ because it personifies the human spirit, and the deep inner desire we have to reach out and help others. A hallmark emotion of this show is “Delight”

• the incredible delight of the family, when they view their new home;
• the obvious delight of Ty and the design team, in sharing the home;
• the heart-warming delight of the builders and volunteers, who always claim they receive so much more than they give!

Delight is an intense emotion, and one that truly opens the Consciousness to allow a free-flow of abundance and prosperity to come to you, in ways you would never begin to imagine!

As part of our Sunday service, we share a Prosperity Blessing during our offering time, in which we repeat together, “Divine Love, through me, blesses and multiplies all the I have, all that I give, and all that I receive.”

These words are actually a perfect outline for understanding an Extreme Level of Delight. Most people tend to think about money when they hear this blessing, but let’s “amp it up” into a description of our consciousness, and see a deeper message!

Delight in all you have:

Of course, this tells us to be grateful for the things we have  without begrudging what others have, or always longing for what you wish you had.

But there’s a deeper level to consider: don’t we all have things we don’t particularly feel grateful for? For example, things like illness, money problems, work issues, etc.? The real secret here is to live from a state of delight, even in the midst of these kinds of issues. Regardless of what we “have,” we are grateful! Not for  but from! Living from that sense of delight in knowing we are one with God and all is well, we can recognize that every experience is simply “curriculum,” from which we can learn and grow.

Delight in all that you give:

This section of the blessing reminds us to delight in the things we give to others, but it goes so much farther than that. Become aware of other ways you give  and pay attention to whether you are giving gratefully. We give by way of words; expressions; help; comfort; time. For example, we recently hosted some out of state friends. Ten of us met to share time together for a dinner, ranging from age 17 months to 89 years old! It was an incredible evening, because everyone gave their time, joyfully, to come together as family and friends. What a joyful gathering we all had!

Give joyfully! We write “Gladly” on all our checks (right above the words “Pay to the order of”), and it helps us experience a sense of joy as we send our money out into the world. By allowing a sense of delight to flow through us, we can send that joy out to others through our words and actions. Giving with delight enriches your prosperity, and the prosperity of all those whose lives you touch!

Delight in all that you receive:

Think about a gift you gave to someone recently. Recall your excitement in choosing it (or making it), and how you felt as you wrapped it up and delivered it. Now, imagine that you get no acknowledgment at all. Nothing is more disappointing than giving something, and not feeling a sense of appreciation on the part of the one you gave it to. It breaks the flow of the giving and receiving cycle.

Consider a compliment you received, that you negated and threw back at the giver! Think about offers for help, that you have glibly refused. When you do not receive with delight, you cut off the cycle of giving and receiving, and you put a kink in the prosperity flow into your life.

Experience shows that receiving with delight is the toughest challenge of all - particularly when we find ourselves in a place of need, where we must take help from others. But if we can just remember that in receiving with delight, we are actually helping those who are giving - and we are maintaining that Giving/Receiving Cycle, keeping it flowing in our lives!

Charles Fillmore is quoted as saying, “It has been found by experience that a person increases his blessings by being grateful for what he has. Gratitude even on the mental plane is a great magnet. When gratitude is expressed from the spiritual standpoint, it is powerfully augmented.”

When we live life from a Spiritual Consciousness of Delight - delighting in all that we have, all that we give, and all that we receive - we will discover that everything we ever need flows to us as we align ourselves  with Divine Abundance.

Drs. Bil & Cher Holton are Spiritual Leaders at Unity Spiritual Life Center in Durham, NC, where they practice positive, practical, progressive Christianity. Visit their website at Unity Spiritual Life Center and sign up to receive a complimentary 4-week e-course.

With Halloween so close, we seem to have our minds on goblins! And that led us to think about the goblins in our Consciousness - those negative error thoughts that separate us from the Truth of who we are. We want to send those goblins on the run! But, we want to do it the right way, or we will just wind up creating more problems for ourselves.

Hence, the second part of our title, Google comes into play. Whenever we really need to know something, we turn to Google!

As an aside, did you know that Google is a play on the word “GOOGOL” which refers to the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. Google coined the word to reflect their mission to organize the immense, seemingly infinite amount of information available via the web.

Google is our favorite search engine ~ but even with Google, you can only find so much. Just imagine the infinite amount of Divine Ideas and Guidance we have at our disposal when we Google God!

Just for fun, we did Google God, and came up with 510,000,000 hits in just .09 seconds! And you can bet, those hits were all over the place, from God’s homepage, to the official God FAQ (which we do  not recommend), to God’s Yellow Pages! But that is a drop in the bucket compared to what we get when we really Google God - through Meditation and Prayer. Rather than sit at the computer, try sitting in the Silence, quieting your mind, and becoming open to receive the Divine outpouring of ideas and guidance that are at your constant disposal.

And here’s the best part. When we identify our goblins, then Google God through mediation and prayer, we can live in a state of constant giggles! We can experience the pure delight of knowing that we are never alone, and nothing has any power over us. We can say with confidence: My consciousness is greater than any goblin my mind can imagine!

Research has now proven that complex humor (riddles, puns, funny stories) not only strengthens our immune system, it actually can improve memory and recalibrate our intuition! We can also approach problems with more flexibility, opening the channels to creative Divine ideas. We call it the Giggle State of Consciousness.

When we live in the Giggle State of Consciousness, we operate from a state of pure joy and gratitude. Here’s a great quote we discovered about gratitude, by Melody Beatty:

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, and confusion into clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

Were you aware that there is an actual meditation practice called Centered Silliness? Because the physical act of laughter is one of the few actions that involves the body, emotions, and soul, it makes it possible for us to transcend physical and mental stresses. It has even been proven to improve the immune system.

There are 3 stages to mindful laughter, each taking 5-20 minutes:

• Stretching like a cat and breathing deeply. Exercise the muscles in your face by yawning and making lots of funny faces.

• Pure laughter. Fall on the floor if you want, and continue laughing as long as you can. You may feel like you are forcing it at first, but we invite you to give it a try. Just laugh out loud!

Here are some funny stories to get you laughing:

We loved this announcement from a church bulletin: “Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person(s) you want remembered.”

Or this: Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door. (That’ll really boost that esteem!)

And how about this slogan: The Associate Minister unveiled the church’s new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: “I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours.”?

A woman went to the Post Office to purchase stamps for her Christmas cards. “What Denomination?” asked the clerk. “Oh, good grief! Have we come to this?” responded the woman. “Just give me 50 Baptist and 50 Catholic ones.”

• And the final step: Sit in silence with your eyes closed, and become aware of your breath.

We believe Jesus had a wonderful sense of humor, and understood the power of joy. He used hyperbole, paradox, and exaggeration to make a point. In John 15:11, He said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full.”

Lowell Fillmore (Charles & Myrtle’s son) said, in his book, The Prayer Way to Health, Wealth, & Happiness: “Unity believes that when joy is put back into religion, there will be more religion in the world.”  A friend of Lowell’s said that back when they lived together at Unity Farm, young Lowell would take off his shoes and socks, and run barefoot in the winter snow-just out of exhilaration, out of the joy of being alive!

We’d like to end this week’s article with a poem we enjoy. But take note: we added an extra verse to share a Unity perspective!

Sit on the Lid and Laugh (by Bertha Adams Backus)

Build for yourself a strong box
Fashion each part with care;
When it’s strong as your hand can make it
Put all your “goblins” there.
Hide there all thought of your failures,
Every real or imagined gaffe;
Lock all your heartaches within it
Then sit on the lid and laugh.

Tell no one else its contents
Never its secrets share,
When you’ve dropped in your care and worry
Keep them forever there;
Hide them from sight so completely
That the world will never dream half
Fasten the strong box securely
Then sit on the lid and laugh!

(Our added verse):

You have within you this strongbox
At Headquarters you’ll find it’s true -
Go there to empty your worries
Your problems, your fears - heartaches, too.
The goblins that seem to consume you
The burdens that tear you in half -
Can be Googled away in this strongbox ~
And you can sit on the lid and laugh!

So when the goblins come out to frighten you away from your Divinity, just Google God by going into the Silence, with the assurance that you can live in a continuous state of Divine Giggles and Joy, knowing that wherever you are, God is - and all is well!

Drs. Bil & Cher Holton are Spiritual Leaders at Unity Spiritual Life Center in Durham, NC, where they practice positive, practical, progressive Christianity. Visit their website at Unity Spiritual Life Center and sign up to receive a complimentary 4-week e-course.

A 12-pound hawksbill turtle crawled up to die on a wind torn beach. An autopsy revealed that half of its weight was from man made products. Its stomach and intestines were filled with multi-colored beads, part of a comb, two golf tees, a toy wheel, rope, balloon, part of a plastic bottle, a plastic toothpaste cap, the top of a plastic medical syringe, baggies, and a plastic flower.* Its contents were carb-free, but had no nutritional value. (As referenced by Paul Varo Martinson in World Religions: The Problem of Imaging Christ, Imaging Christ: Politics, Art, Spirituality, ed. Francis A. Eigo, Villanova, PA: Villanova University Press, 1991, 111).

Apart from the environmental and ecological fallout associated with the turtle’s poor dietary choices, this unfortunate incident speaks to the message we have been sharing with you.

It is a message which says: Until we are open to individual and spiritual transformation and to the transformational conversation which goes along with it, we risk having our spirit clogged with the plastic half-truths of conventional thinking and embedded theology which can clutter half, or all, of our thinking.

We invite you to ‘get over’ carrying around plastic thoughts and attitudes like the plastic mush in the turtle’s stomach before it sends you crawling up on beaches of convention instead of soaring up mountains of enlightenment.

This ‘Get Over It’ message is based on the book by the same title. It is designed to help you move from plastic to platinum in your thinking - from blind obedience to conventional thinking to the unlimited openness and joy of transformational thinking.

The phrases we’re encouraging you to ‘get over’ in this article usually come as a pair. They are: “Birds of a feather stick together” and “opposites attract.”

We’re going to give you a bird’s eye view of these worn out beliefs which we believe are flying out of formation. These two phrases, we think you’ll agree, have been winging it for some time.

The “birds of a feather stick together” phrase has been around a long time. It has been in use since at least the mid 16th century. It initially appeared in 1545 in William Turner’s rendition of his papist satire The Rescuing of Romish Fox: “Byrdes of one kynde and color flok and flye allwayes together.”

No such origin can be found for “opposites attract.” However its origin may be closer than we think. It is actually a social psychology concept called “common belief factor.”

It springs from the word “heterocentrism.” “Hetero” is the Greek word for “different.”Centre” is Greek for “centered on” or “drawn toward.” To use a similar analogy, a “heliocentric” plant, like a sunflower, is one that grows toward or is drawn to the sun.

It reminds us why we are no longer total, absolute vegans. It seemed that whenever we sat in a chair near the window we started leaning toward the light.

So, something which is “heterocentric” involves two or more UNLIKE things that are magnetized towards each other.

Do opposites attract? Do birds of a feather flock together? What does the latest research literature have to say about that? In one of the most widely attempted studies ever undertaken on these questions, researchers at the University of Iowa found

Before we divulge their findings if you are looking for the perfect soulmate or business colleague you may want to read this very carefully. Researchers at the University of Iowa found that we tend to hang around others who are similar in attitudes, interests, philosophy, religion, and values.

However, it is the complementary nature of our make-up that seems to be more important in creating enduring and happy relationships. Those similarities include character traits like: assertiveness, introversion and extroversion, compassion, even-temperedness, sense of humor, and so on. (The findings appear in the February issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 88, No., 2, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Other than that nothing is definitive. The concepts of ‘birds of a feather flocking together’ or ‘opposites attracting’ seem to come down to one thing: the power of choice.

There is no automatic, incontrovertible, mindless magnetism that pulls people together. If that sounds like fowl language we invite you to consider the fact that in order for these two sayings to be absolute truths they would have to be true in all circumstances.

People who are the same don’t always hang out with each other. Opposites aren’t always attracted to each other. We decide with whom we flock, herd, swim, swarm, or hibernate.

We like to hang around with Unitics and other truth seekers. We also like to flock with: dancers, people who love the performing arts, open-minded people, high energy people, philosophers and metaphysicians, possibility-thinkers, healers, and frozen custard lovers, good conversationalists, movie goers, people who love to travel, people who have a good sense of humor, and banana pudding lovers, to name a few.

With whom do you flock! In what ways are important people in your life opposite from you?

Drs. Bil & Cher Holton are Spiritual Leaders at Unity Spiritual Life Center in Durham, NC, where they practice positive, practical, progressive Christianity. Visit their website at Unity Spiritual Life Center and sign up to receive a complimentary 4-week e-course.

Each swept floor prompts another sweep. Every child bathed invites another washing. Every lawn mowed requires another mowing. Every breath taken requires another breath.

The sun ascends each morning and sets every evening. The moon shines each night. Tides ebb and flow every day. Birds sing wonderful songs today and sing them again tomorrow.

Oysters open their shells when the moon is high in the sky. The chambered nautilus forms a new chamber in its spiraled shell each lunar month.

When we breathe, we do not stop breathing because we have taken in all of the oxygen we will ever need. We stop because we have all the oxygen we need for that particular breath.

When we exhale we stop exhaling so we can prepare for the next inhalation. We will need to repeat the process; however, no matter how perfectly we have inhaled and exhaled.

What these scenarios are telling us is what is finished invites refinishing.

So what do we do after we become enlightened? We become more enlightened. Once we are aware that we are one with the Infinite Isness we are prone to think we are finished, that we are finished, that we have reached the pinnacle of our perfection.

But nothing can be further from the truth. There is a Zen saying which goes like this: Before enlightenment, mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers. At the moment one is enlightened, mountains are no longer mountains and rivers cease to be rivers. After enlightenment, mountains are again mountains and rivers are once more rivers.

A current version of this Zen koan comes from Unity minister, Jim Rosemergy who reminds us: “Mystics do not turn from the world once they turn to God. They remain in the world but not of the world. Even mystics have bills to pay.”

Once we are enlightened, that is, once we positively, absolutely, unequivocally realize we are God expressing as us, we stay in the world, but not of the world to demonstrate to others the path of enlightenment.

That is our spiritual mission: to fully express our divinity and help others to do the same. It is the same commission expressed in Matthew 28:19-20.

We will share the New Revised Standard Version and then offer an ontological version from the New Metaphysical Version of Matthew to add spiritual depth.

After His resurrection Jesus announced to His disciples in verse 19:

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

Metaphysically Jesus was referring to three specific nations: our body, mind, and soul. Baptizing the nations signifies purifying our body, mind, and soul from unhealthy sense attachments.

We are to do this ‘in the ‘name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’ Name signifies ‘in the nature of.’ And, ontologically speaking Father, Son, and Holy Spirit represent the three aspects of Divine Order (Mind, Idea, and Expression).

So, we are to cleanse our body, mind, and soul by becoming one with the nature of the Christ Presence within us so we can divinely order our experience.

Matt. 20 says in the New Revised Standard Version: “Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you, remembering that I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”"

Metaphysically ‘teach them’ means to walk our talk with integrity. ‘I am with you always’ means we have an indivisible, unshakable, universal oneness with Spirit. To the ‘end of the world’ means moving from one level of spiritual awareness to another.

Matthew 20 means we are to walk our talk by letting our Christ Light shine as we achieve one level of enlightenment, one level of completion, to another.

So, what will we do after we are enlightened?

We stay in the world but not of the world. We live as monks and mystics in cities, towns, and communities.

We light up the world with our example. Like the enlightened beings who became enlightened before us we will teach others how to teach others.

We will appear as typical men and women, but our values and the manner in which we live, move, and have our being will show our surrender to our higher calling.

We might have human challenges, but we will not be subdued by them. We may wear glasses or contact lenses, hearing aids or artificial heart valves, but we will not be defined by them.

We may take medicine or require hospitalization, but we will not be incarcerated by them. We may experience a world that is not perfect, but we will not be limited by that imperfection.

We will be in the finishing and refinishing business. We will pot and repot ourselves daily. We will renew and keep renewing ourselves. We will tool and re-tool ourselves constantly.

We will continue to seek enlightenment because enlightenment is a verb, not a noun. It is a process, an unfolding, and a movement from one exhilarating level of consciousness to another.

Drs. Bil & Cher Holton are Spiritual Leaders at Unity Spiritual Life Center in Durham, NC, where they practice positive, practical, progressive Christianity. Visit their website at Unity Spiritual Life Center and sign up to receive a complimentary 4-week e-course.

Just for kicks; we did a little Google search as we were preparing this article. We searched the phrase “Flu Bug” - In .18 seconds, there were 1,430,000 hits! There were multiple interpretations-Even “Flu Bugs of the Zodiac” which provided information about how each of the zodiac signs handles the flu! But guess what? When we googled the phrase “Love Bug,” we were inundated with 30,700,000 hits in .15 seconds! The obvious favorite! Unfortunately, a lot of those hits had to do with the bugs, not the emotion! And the phrase “Love Bug of Truth” got zero!! (Until we get this article on our blog!)

The Love Bug of Truth is the one bug we WANT to catch  and spread to others! And just as that pesky flu bug has a list of symptoms, guess what? The Love Bug of Truth has THREE symptoms too! Your adventure this week is to see how many of these symptoms you feel  and how you can keep those symptoms flowing! They will be simple to remember  just remember the word BUG!

B=BELIEF:
When you are bitten by the Love Bug of Truth, you experience a strengthening of Belief. Belief is the difference between living life in HOPE of something, and KNOWING that you know that you know. Belief actually affects your sense of inner peace. When you know Truth, from the depths of your being, you can move through any situation with calmness and assurance.

Example: There is an interesting observation we’ve made in the field of professional speaking, which we’ve done since 1984. It is a cyclical business  It doesn’t really matter how fabulous you might be, the speaking business has definite ups and downs, and fairly predictable cycles. When you’re just starting out, and hit a down time, you panic, worry, and run around trying to force results. No matter what anyone tells you, you think the world is coming to an end, you’re finished, and you’ll have to actually return to that “real world” of work!” Once you’ve been around that block a few times, you recognize the cycle, and you live from that knowing that you don’t need to panic. Instead, you take advantage of that down time to rest, take care of yourself, and work on new material or marketing tactics. Then, when the up cycle comes around again, you can enter it refreshed and ready to dazzle with your new stuff. Meanwhile, the newbie enters the up market exhausted from all the needless worry! Those who don’t learn and know won’t succeed in the business!

The same principle is true in our Spiritual life. When you hit a drought in your prosperity flow, or run into challenges with health, career, relationships, whatever  Stand on the foundation of BELIEF, and don’t allow yourself to fall into  doubting the Principles. Instead of doubting principles, this is when you get busy USING them!

When you feel yourself facing a challenge from that place of BELIEF, you can be sure you’ve been bitten by the Love Bug of Truth!

U=UNDERSTANDING:
When you are bitten by the Love Bug of Truth, you sense an “inner click” of Understanding. Understanding is the difference between acting a certain way because someone said you should be doing it, and doing it because you “get it!”  It is that A-ha that hits you when you smash through a Truth barrier.

Here’s an example to help explain what we mean. We saw it as we watched our grandson playing with one of his toys. It is this big block that has shapes cut into it. There are a lot of plastic blocks cut into the same shapes, and our grandson is supposed to figure out how to drop the right shape into the hole of the same shape. And every now and then, by accident, he hit it right - and it’s exciting! But the awesome time came when he realized how he did it and was able to replicate it over and over! It’s that a-ha!

Consider the practices we have as we live our Truth principles. How many times do we do stuff because someone said we should  for example affirmations? We worry: “Am I saying it correctly? Did I use the perfect words? Is there enough energy behind it?” But when our affirmations are grounded in Truth, we understand that they always work! We UNDERSTAND that things don’t become true because we affirm them  We affirm them because they are Truth!

When you feel that inner click that says “I get it!” that click of Understanding, you can be sure you’ve been bitten by the Love Bug of Truth!

G=GRATITUDE:

When you are bitten by the Love Bug of Truth, you live life from an attitude of Gratitude. Living in Gratitude is the difference between allowing outer circumstances to determine our emotional state and choosing to live from a place of gratitude no matter what is going on.

For example: How many people do you know who gripe about how their vacations were ruined because of the weather? Personally, we have this one pretty well down! Since way back years ago, we started making a conscious decision to claim and set the intention that weather would never affect our enjoyment with our vacations! Now this doesn’t mean the weather will always be perfect on a vacation time. What it means is that we will not allow our emotional well-being be dependent on weather. And we have enjoyed every single vacation we’ve ever had, regardless of the weather we’ve experienced!

So remember, Gratitude is an attitude, not an event! We develop it by choice. This week, when you open your eyes in the morning, just take a moment to affirm “I greet this day with gratitude and joy!” Throughout the day, if you happen to feel yourself dreading something you need to do, pause a moment and repeat, “I am God in action! I do what I need to do with gratitude and joy! In all things, I give thanks!”

When you feel yourself facing a challenge from a deep place of Belief, when you experience that inner click of Understanding, and when you realize you are living every moment of every day from an attitude of Gratitude, you are experiencing the BUG symptoms - and you can be sure  you’ve been bitten by the Love Bug of Truth! Pass it on!

Drs. Bil & Cher Holton are Spiritual Leaders at Unity Spiritual Life Center in Durham, NC, where they practice positive, practical, progressive Christianity. Visit their website at Unity Spiritual Life Center and sign up to receive a complimentary 4-week e-course.

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect priceless works of art. They had everything from Picasso to Van Gogh. They would often take time out from their busy schedules and admire their immense collection.

They had planned a buying trip to Europe, but the Iraq war interrupted their plans. The son’s reserve unit was called up and he found himself in Baghdad.

On his second tour of duty the son was killed by a roadside bomb. The father had lost his wife to cancer and now he had lost his only son.

A little over a month later, just before Thanksgiving, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door holding a large box.

He said, "Sir, you don’t know me, but I served with your son in Iraq. He saved my life. He was the bravest man I’ve ever seen. He often talked about you, and your mutual love for art."

The young man held out the box. "I know this isn’t much. I’m not a famous artist, but I think your son would want you to have this."

The father opened the gift. It was a portrait of his son in military uniform. He stared in awe at the way the young man had captured his son’s personality.

He thanked the young man and offered to pay for the painting.

"Oh, no sir." Insisted the young man, "I could never repay what your son did for me. It’s a gift for you." They spent the afternoon talking about the man’s son and the arts.

The father placed the portrait over the mantle. Every time friends visited he showed them the portrait of his son before he showed them any of his other artwork.

On New Year’s Day the man made his own transition. Some of his closest friends believed it was from a broken heart. At his request upon his death, he wanted his paintings auctioned. Many wealthy people and art collectors came to add his rare paintings to their own collections.

The portrait of his son was perched on the auction easel. The auctioneer pounded the gavel. "We will start the bidding with this portrait. Who will bid for this painting of the son?"

You could hear a pin drop, then murmurings. Finally a voice from the back of the room shouted, "We’re not interested in that one. We’re here for the Picassos, and Rembrandts, and Raphael’s."

However the auctioneer persisted. "Will someone bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100? $200?

Another voice shouted defiantly, "We didn’t come to bid on this painting. We’re here for the Van Gogh’s and the DiVincis."

Undaunted, the auctioneer continued, "The son. Who will take the son?"

Finally, a voice came from the rear of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. "I’ll give $100 for the painting." Being a man of modest means, it was all he could afford. He loved the man and his son and felt the son was his son too.

"We have $100. Who will give $200?"

"Give it to him for $100. Let’s see the master’s works, the real art work." Someone shouted.

$100 is the bid. Won’t someone bid $200?

The crowd became angry. They didn’t want the inferior painting. They wanted the priceless investments for their collections.

The auctioneer pounded the gavel. "Going once, going twice, SOLD for $100.

The room broke out in applause. One man handed $10 to the gardener as a token thank you for speeding up the auction, but the gardener refused. "They always made me feel like I was part of the family," he confessed. "I have always enjoyed my employment with them."

His purchase of the painting was a prayer answered. He had wanted a memento, and now he had one. He had gotten a small inheritance from the man’s will, but the painting of his son was truly wonderful.

All at once, the auctioneer laid down his gavel. "I’m sorry, but that concludes the auction. The auction is over."

"What?" shouted the audience. "What do you mean the ‘auction is over?’"

"I’m sorry for such a sudden end to these proceedings. When I was called to conduct this auction I was informed of a stipulation in the will. I can now tell you what that stipulation is. Only the painting of the son was to be auctioned. Whichever bidder bought the painting would inherit the entire estate! The man who bid $100 for the son gets everything!"

It is through the dynamics of prayer that we find peace, and rest, and answers, and wealth. Like the gardener, we have ready access to the Omnipresence of Supply. Our prosperity is waiting for us. It is just a prayer away. All we have to do is turn to the Son, the Christ Spirit within.

Although the way we pray differs, most people have learned from the faith traditions in which they grew up to ask, to petition, to beg an external anthropomorphic deity for things they want. They believe in ‘dial-up’ prayer instead of instant, high speed access prayer.

In this 6th in a series of "Get Over It" talks we have selected the familiar New Thought phrase ‘Be careful what you pray for’ as a phrase which should be buried with the embedded theology which gave birth to it.

It is a phrase which adds credence to the anthropomorphic deity myth which has kept our eyes concentrated on a super-being ‘out there’ who will save us if we’re obedient, patient, and gullible.

The help ‘out there’ motif is perpetuated by the mythological Superman, Batman, and Super Hero characters which Hollywood has so skillfully produced for us.

We have all grown up with the belief that the Messiah will come from ‘out there.’ That the Messiah must be some kind of super hero with super powers. Essentially the message is we are too unworthy, weak, and whinny to save ourselves.

In his book, Dynamics for Living, Charles Fillmore said, "The way to attain health and wealth is to put your prayerful words and creative actions to work and bring into swift action the Superman Christ within."

The super hero is within us. It is the Superman Christ part of us. When we get to the point that we identify with our Superman Christ within, and not with fictitious superheroes ‘out there’ we master our human experience.

The same thing goes when it comes to prayer. We believe there is a collective wisdom at our core, and shared by all of us, that senses an unseen spiritual Presence. A Presence that is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent.

In Matthew 21:22 the Christ said: "Whatever we ask in prayer, believing with faith, we shall receive." The word ‘ask’ really means ‘affirm or declare.’ And ‘prayer’ means ‘direct, unobstructed communion with Spirit.’

So, what Matthew 21:22 really means is when we affirm our oneness with Spirit by communing with Spirit to make that connection, and believe that we have instant access to Universal Supply, we will receive all we need to manifest our good. This verse is the key to manifesting our good.

It is praying FROM this unobstructed oneness, that we move toward our good. It is FROM this interior place of alignment with the Allness of God that we position ourselves to receive.

So we do not have to pray TO a God ‘out there.’ There’s no need to dial-a-prayer! We don’t have to be careful for what we pray believing that if we don’t pray right we might get something other than what we prayed for. That’s not how prayer works!

There’s no dispensing God ‘up there’ waiting for us to make a mistake in our prayer languaging so It can surprise us with something we didn’t expect. There are no prayer police watching our prayers to see if we’re asking for the right things.

‘Be careful for what you pray for’ is fear-based theology. It is not wise to build guilt, and fear, and anxiety into a prayer experience.

What is useful is to live a prayer-conditioned life, one which is characterized by absolute trust in your oneness with Spirit.

Drs. Bil & Cher Holton are Spiritual Leaders at Unity Spiritual Life Center in Durham, NC, where they practice positive, practical, progressive Christianity. Visit their website at Unity Spiritual Life Center and sign up to receive a complimentary 4-week e-course.

One summer the accomplished British violinist Peter Cropper was invited to Finland to perform at the prestigious Kuhmo Music Festival. In recognition for his outstanding music ability, the Royal Academy of Music in London offered him an extraordinary opportunity - he would be able to play a priceless 258-year-old Stradivarius.

It is well-known that Antonio Stradivari of Cremona, Italy brought the art of violin-making to its highest pinnacle of perfection. Each instrument was crafted out of 80 pieces of specially selected pine, boxwood, and ebony. Then, by a secret process, unduplicated even today, 30 coats of a soft-textured varnish were applied.

Even today a Stradivarius produces wonderfully resonant notes, which intensify the farther they travel from the strings.

The evening of the performance, as Peter Cropper hurried onstage, the unimaginable happened. He tripped on an extension cord which had not been taped down and landed on the Stradivarius, breaking the neck of the instrument completely off.

Somehow, with a borrowed violin, Cropper managed to keep his composure and play. Still in shock, he flew back to England. Far from blaming him the members of the Royal Academy tried to console him. But he was inconsolable.

A well known London violin dealer named Charles Beare offered to repair the Strad. The Academy thanked him but assured him that a broken Stradivarius would never be repaired. At Cropper’s insistence the Academy finally agreed and Beare started his work.

Two months later Beare notified the Academy and an anxious Cropper that the work was done. When the violin was brought to him Cropper stared at it, astounded, as the aproned craftsman showed them where the repairs had been made. Try as they might the distinguished Academy officials and Cropper could not see them.

But the crucial test was yet to come. How would the Stradivarius  sound? Cropper picked it up, said a quick prayer, hesitated for a moment, and then began to play a concerto.

As each soaring note resonated through the shop, the spellbound group of music experts was astounded. The tone seemed even more pure than before.

The unbelievable repair job fell well outside the parameters of conventional wisdom. It didn’t fit existing beliefs about the possibility of Stradivarius repair.

Sometime later Peter Cropper led the Lindsay Quartet on an international tour. Night after night he drew beautiful notes on the Stradivarius he once believed was ruined forever.

Its repair was made possible because the broken parts were placed in the hands of a master craftsman who brought his masterful touch to bear.

What if Cropper had taken to heart the conventional wisdom that says, "Take what fits and leave the rest?" or said another way, "Take what resonates and leave the rest?" or in the case of a broken Stradivarius, "If it IS broken you can’t fix it!" Messing with a Strad was considered irresponsible. Ludicrous! Even blasphemous!

That’s how we feel about the New Thought phrase, "Take what resonates and leave the rest." It’s ludicrous! It’s even blasphemous! It’s exactly the kind of thinking Charles Fillmore was referring to when he said, "I reserve the right to change my mind."

‘Taking what fits and leaving the rest’ is a status quo philosophy. It keeps us glued to the way things are. It worships convention. We may as well walk around with a security blanket over our ear like Linus in the Peanuts cartoon.

Not being willing to embrace something new is cartoonish! It keeps us in a RUT. And a ‘rut’ means ‘rigid unchallenged thinking.’ Many people have PhD’s in ‘rut management.’ They champion the status quo. They GO along instead of GROW along.

Moving out of comfort zones is what we are proposing.  We encourage you to turn ‘existing’ beliefs into ‘exiting’ beliefs when they become stale beliefs.

We are absolutely convinced that your health, wealth, and happiness are the result of heart-to-head resuscitation . It is your openness and receptivity to change and newness that will bring you immense happiness and joy.

• If you believe all lightning strikes go from cloud to ground - get over it!
• If you think the Dead Sea is the world’s saltiest body of water - get over it!
• If you think there are no incurable diseases - get over it!
• If you think people’s ability to levitate is just a magical trick - get over it!
• If you believe you have to die to go to Heaven - get over it!
• If you believe we can’t build a spiritual education center that can change the spiritual consciousness of the planet - get over it!
• If you think you can’t make your dreams come true - get over it!
• If you think you can’t ‘get over it’ - get over it!

Drs. Bil & Cher Holton are Spiritual Leaders at Unity Spiritual Life Center in Durham, NC, where they practice positive, practical, progressive Christianity. Visit their website at Unity Spiritual Life Center and sign up to receive a complimentary 4-week e-course.

A balloon salesman was selling balloons on the streets of Mobile, Alabama one October day. He sold them in multi-colored packets of various sizes of balloons. He also sold helium-filled balloons. When business was slow he would twist the balloons and turn them into animal and flower shapes.

As he turned the balloons into shapes children would converge with their parents in tow. In the middle of his balloon-shaping routine he would occasionally launch a helium-filled balloon to add to the drama and excitement for the children.

His business would pick up for 15 or 20 minutes and so he repeated his shaping and releasing sequence three times every hour. He also changed the color of each balloon he released, first releasing a white one, then a red one, and later a yellow one.

One day an Afro-American youngster pulled on his coat sleeve. The salesman looked down at the boy who was wearing a soiled ball cap.

"Well. Hello there young fella. Would you like a balloon?"

"No, sir. I have my bottle caps." He dug a handful out of his pocket and showed them to the salesman.

"Oh, I see," said the salesman, grinning at the boy’s innocence. "I’m afraid you can’t purchase balloons with bottle caps."

"I can’t afford no balloons," the youngster said. Then he looked the vendor directly in the eyes and spoke softly, "What I want to know is, if you released a black balloon, would it rise up too?"

The balloon salesman knelt beside the little boy and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. "Yes, son, it would. As a matter of fact I’ve got some black Halloween balloons with me. I only sell them on Halloween. But, yes, they rise like the rest of them. Here, I’ll demonstrate for you."

The salesman dug a Halloween balloon out and inflated it with helium. Both of them watched as the balloon soared upward.

The youngster grinned, relieved that the black balloon was as good as the white, and red, and yellow balloons.  As the balloon salesman rose he noticed a tear in the boy’s eyes. He stooped down again.

"See, the balloon is going very high, it’s almost out of sight," he announced as he tugged the bill of the boy’s cap. "Son, it’s what’s inside the balloons that makes them go up. And it’s what’s inside of you that makes you to succeed in life. There’s greatness in you. Will you remember that for me?"

The youngster smiled brightly this time. "Yes sir, I will."

"Here," said the salesman, "These balloons are for you." He pulled two black balloons out, inflated them with helium, and gave them to the youngster. He watched the little boy leave with a smile on his face.

One of the bystanders who over-heard the conversation said to the salesman, "The boy is from the ‘Down the Bay’ area of Mobile, the poorest side of town. He uses bottle caps as baseballs and hits them with a stick. It’s a common practice for kids down there."

They both watched the boy let go of one of the balloons and then quickly grab its string. He repeated the release and catch move as he walked away from them.

The youngster remembered what the balloon salesman told him, "Son, it’s what inside the balloons that makes them rise. There’s greatness in you."

The boy grew up to become a professional baseball player. He stopped hitting bottle caps and hit baseballs farther and more often than anyone else.

During his professional career, ‘Hammerin’ Hank Aaron hit 755 home runs, a feat that held for 33 years until Barry Bonds broke his record in August of 2007.

‘Hammerin’ Hank is the only player to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least 15 times. He is one of only four major leaguers to have at least 17 seasons with 150 or more hits.

Hank Aaron made the All-Star team every year from 1955 until 1975. That’s 20 years! He still holds the ML record for the most runs batted in (2,297), the most extra base hits (1,477), and the most total bases (6,856).

Not bad for a boy who smacked bottle caps with a stick. Was it fate, or an accident, or chance that he met that particular salesman, at that particular time, on that particular street?

Hank Aaron’s coincidental meeting with that balloon salesman is the subject of our 7th in a series of ‘Get Over It’ talks. This morning we will examine the well-known New Thought phrase ‘nothing happens by accident.’

The phrase itself is true, but misleading. Of course ‘nothing happens by accident.’ There are no accidents in the sense that in and of themselves they suddenly appear out of nowhere, without a precipitating cause.

Any competent safety professional will tell you that. Accidents are created. They are the effects of a series of events which lead up to them.

It is the way people toss this saying around that has put it on our list of phrases to ‘get over.’ This phrase is used much in the same way as people use ‘divine timing’ and ‘divine appointment’ to describe what happens to them.

The statement that ‘nothing happens by accident’ implies that everything happens as it is supposed to happen.

And what is supposed to happen is determined by fate, or karma, or God, or cosmic beings ‘out there’ who are in charge of engineering our earth experience.

Cher and I invite you to ‘get over’ that way of thinking immediately. It puts your power, and self-determination, and your ability to be the captain of your fate outside of you.

We are NOT here to be the products of an ‘outside in’ mythology. We are here to be the architects of an inside out theology.

It will require a change in consciousness. It will take a transformation in consciousness. And that transformation includes becoming more aware of what we say, think, and do.

Our message is - it is NO ACCIDENT that you are reading this today:

• It is NO ACCIDENT that you are where you are on your spiritual journey.
• It is NO ACCIDENT that you are seeking answers to complex human challenges.
• It is NO ACCIDENT that you are becoming aware that you are divine beings having a human experience.
• It is NO ACCIDENT that you are the Christ expressing as you.

And so, it doesn’t matter what color your balloon is - white, red, yellow, black, or brown - you can soar as high as anyone else, because it’s what’s inside of you that counts.