Do you remember your first job? Mine (Rev. Cher) was working as a waitress in south Jersey, at the Patio Drive Inn – a popular custard stand with a small dining area attached to it. My training consisted of Mary, the lovely Greek owner, handing me a notepad and saying: “You handle the customers at the window in the order they come up. In the dining room, you write the order on this pad and clip it to the board in the back, then listen for George to call ‘Order Up!’ Then you deliver it to the table.” That was it! Sounded simple to my 16-year-old brain – but then came my first order. Hot dog, French fries and a coke. I proudly wrote it out clearly on the notepad to be sure George could read my writing, and clipped it to the board. Then I continued waiting on window customers, listening for the “Order Up!” to be called. Instead, this big Greek man with his apron flying came out of the kitchen waving my note page in the air, yelling something in Greek. It was George – and I thought, “Oh, no, he can’t read my writing!”   But it seems I didn’t need to worry about George being able to read my writing at all . . . George did not read English! Come to find out, there was a special code for every order: for example, FF was French fries; HD was hot dog.  My lesson was learned – No “Order Up!” until you knew how to place the order!

In Matthew 6:33, Jesus as the Christ shares with us the sequence that will create Divine Order in our lives. He says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” This is our guide to Ordering Up the highest and best in our life experience, regardless of what the world of appearance may be.

Let’s take both a quick metaphysical and a practical look at this, so we understand what this really means for us. The Gospel of Matthew, New Metaphysical Version states it this way: “When we live at the speed of our Christ Consciousness, we will not want for anything. Verse 34 goes on to say: “Therefore, we should not concern ourselves about unmanifested good; right thoughts and actions help move possibilities into probabilities and hidden potentials into physical realities.” In other words, when we put things in the right Spiritual Order, by going first to Headquarters and spending quality time there, we quicken our awareness of our Oneness and open ourselves up to hear the Divine Wisdom of Spirit. This sets us up for the “all these things” that will be added. When we’re aligned with Spirit, we can “Order Up” the Divine Ideas, intuitive guidance, and resources we need for our Spiritual Highest and Best, to move through life with grace, inner peace, and joy.

So from a practical standpoint, we want to Order Up a regular Spiritual Practice in our life, so we stay prayed up! Then we can then turn to affirmations to support our Divinely Ordered life. We’d like to  give you the code to “Order Up” the highest and best. It starts be realizing how powerful two words are: “I AM…” Every time you finish a sentence that begins “I Am…” be aware that you are creating an affirmation. But the important thing to remember here is, things don’t become true because we affirm them. We affirm them because they are Truth. So you want to be sure you are grounding all your affirmations in Truth!

As we think about codes related to our affirmations, there is a Universal template for affirmations:  “I AM THAT I AM.”

Think about it … and how powerful it really is. ‘I am that I am.’ Consider the idea that maybe, just maybe, there’s something very significant missing in this powerful phrase as we commonly say it. What if a comma is missing? What if the phrase really says, “I am THAT (comma) I am.” “I am THAT, I am.” Whatever the THAT is, is your affirmation! For example, the THAT could be “I am such an idiot!” OR it could be “I am God expressing at the point of me.” What do you want to “Order Up?”

Every time you say, “I am God expressing at the point of me,” you raise your soul vibration. You raise your spiritual octave to a Christed level. You align your human self with your Christ Self. It actually creates an increase in your energy level. Let’s try it:

“I AM” –2 simple, but powerful soul defining words -  They launch a powerful vocal vibration that holds the key to unbelievable Spiritual growth that leads to your ability to Divinely Order your experience. It’s up to you to “Order Up” what you want.

Every time you say, “I am God expressing at the point of me” you are “Ordering Up” your Divinity.

Every time you say, “I am unlimited prosperity expressing as me” you are “Ordering Up” your abundance.

Every time you say, “I am radiant health expressing as me” you are “Ordering Up” your wholeness and vitality.

Every time you say, “I am pure joy expressing as me” you are “Ordering Up” your inner peace and happiness.

So here’s the Divine Power of Order as it relates to your Spiritual experience:

• Go first to the Headquarters of our Spiritual Oneness (Seek ye first), and reconnect your awareness of Oneness;
• Then, affirm with confidence the Truth of who you are.

With the ORDER in the proper sequence, we can “Order Up” a life that is joyful, peaceful, and Divine , and claim: I AM that … I AM – I Am God expressing at the point of me ..  and I “Order Up” my ability to master the art of living as I walk the Spiritual Path on Practical feet … I AM.

Where there is an appearance of disorder in our lives – where it seems like the Principles are not working – this is when we most need to focus on Spiritual Alphabetical Order! So what does that mean? Did you realize there are all kinds of “alphabetical orders,” when you think of it in terms of creating the proper sequence of things? Cooking alphabetical order would be the sequence of how you combine ingredients to create the final dish you are making. For example, you don’t mix the cream cheese icing of a carrot cake in with the cake batter! When I recently indulged in a morning of self care at a Day Spa, I noticed that my technician had a very specific order in which she did things. That would be Pedicure Alphabetical Order. So let’s talk about Spiritual Alphabetical Order.

Spiritual Alphabetical Order, put quite simply, might look like this:

A. Be Prayed Up! (Time in the Silence, at Headquarters)

B. Follow Your Intuitive Guidance (which comes from being prayed up!)

C. Affirm the Truth of Who You Really Are (which you know that you know because you are prayed up.)

When we approach life in this order, the Divine Ideas we recognize will always be grounded in the strength of our awareness of our Oneness, and we will have the guidance of Spirit to direct our out-picturing Online of those ideas. That way, we end up with Divine Order instead of diddlysquat order – and we can affirm with confidence: I AM mastering the art of living as I walk the Spiritual Path on Practical feet.

By Revs. Bil & Cher Holton

Synchronicity! That’s such a cool concept – but is it a valid principle based on Truth? Not to worry — we aren’t asking you to give it up totally. We just want you to put it in a new context … because we are here to experience incredible events in our life all the time! So instead of assuming it is some mysterious being out there choreographing something special, we encourage you to recognize that when you are at one with your Christ nature, your entire life is just one synchronous event after another! So when something meaningful, that appears to be an incredible coincidence, happens and you are tempted to say, “It’s Synchronicity!” — we invite you GET OVER IT! Instead, try replacing it with the phrase: “I Synchronize!”

Think about the ways we use the phrase synchronize: synchronized diving; synchronized swimming; file synchronizing; synchronize our watches! As you look at these, you’ll notice they all have something in common. You have to make the decision—a choice— to do it, and then you need to take action to create your desired results. The same is true with setting intentions in your life. It doesn’t just happen magically.

We believe life’s synchronicity is the same thing. When you look at the example of Jesus, you realize that the miracles He created were not some coincidental happening that occurred just because He wished it would. Nor were they surprising events. Jesus fully understood all the laws of Nature, and knew how to use Truth Principles in such a way that He could create the outcome He expected. To others it appeared to be synchronicity. Was it synchronicity that created enough food to feed a multitude, from what appeared to be nothing? Was it synchronicity that put Jesus at the pool of Bethesda just as the man who was lame was there? Was it synchronicity that had a donkey exactly where Jesus told His disciples it would be before the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday? Was it synchronicity that turned water into wine? Of course not. These were all events carefully orchestrated by Jesus. He could have said, “I synchronize!”

So how can we begin to create more and more of these powerful, exciting synchronous events in our life?

1. Prepare yourself for synchronicity to happen.

This means setting your intentions so you live in constant expectation of synchronicity happening. Once you set your intentions, it is also important to prepare yourself by spending quality time in the silence—because synchronicity happens when we are spiritually connected to our Oneness. Going to Headquarters where you strengthen your connection is so important to your receptivity to your inner guidance. It is a chance to align yourself with Truth, and remain tranquil in the midst of whatever the world of outer appearance wants to throw at you.

2. Recognize your Intuition … and Listen to it!

Once we are in tune, we get all kinds of intuitive guidance, leading us to synchronize with life! We just need to pay attention! For example, parking karma is nothing more than being aligned with the traffic flow so you are where a good parking place is at the moment you need it. It’s not that you “create” a parking space at the expense of someone else; it’s that you are in tune with circumstances so your timing is aligned. Voila! There’s the spot!

3. Have the guts to act on it!

It’s one thing to hear that intuition … it’s quite another to act on it! Lots of us suffer from paralysis of analysis! We hear that intuitive guidance, and then we try to second guess it! Or argue with it! OR try to make sense of it! We encourage you to go for it! Follow that urging, and see what happens.

How about you? Are you ready for synchronicity to happen in your life? You will begin to see all kinds of seemingly coincidental events unfolding in front of you, and people and resources will be readily available to you, and you will experience the abundant flow of Spirit in every moment of every day as you walk the spiritual path on practical feet.

Check out our Podcast!

You don’t have to miss a single Truth talk, because they are now available easily on the web. Just visit http://uslc.mypodcast.com and put on your headset. You can also subscribe to receive the message by podcast each week by clicking on one of the “Subscribe With” links in the right column.

Part Three (of 3)

These past two weeks, we have explored some dramatic ways to change the way you could complete the phrase, “Cross my heart, and hope to …” We’ve talked about Cross my heart and hope to SEE Truth; and Cross my heart and hope to SPEAK Truth.

This week is our final recommendation … and perhaps the most important of all for our spiritual growth.

Cross my heart and hope to BE Truth:

This means we become one with the Truth of who we are and let our light shine! In other words, we get out of our own way! At a recent Meditation Class we facilitated, we practiced an Art Meditation. The activity asked people to think of an issue they are dealing with in their lives that they’d like Spiritual insight on. Then we go into a meditation, and when they are ready, people get up and select paper and art supplies, then just draw, without really having a plan of what to expect or what it will look like. Following the meditation, people are invited to share their experience if they’d like, as well as describe what showed up on their paper.

What was so neat about what one person in the class shared was that she did not expect this to be a meaningful experience. She was really skeptical. However, to her credit, she decided to go ahead and do it with an open mind and see what happened. As she began, she came up with a drawing, but it didn’t feel right, so she grabbed another piece of paper and started again — and more ideas and thoughts flowed to her, and she did a third drawing which really spoke to her, and brought some amazing insights.

What a perfect example of allowing yourself to BE Truth, whether you actually think it will be helpful or not; regardless of what the world of appearance is saying; regardless of what you feel about it; in spite of what you are hearing from your internal Cynic… just BE Truth, and allow the Christ of you to speak and guide you.

As we learn to “Cross our heart and BE Truth” we cross out error and move one step closer to Enlightenment.

This week, you have incredible adventures just waiting to happen for you … opportunities to grow more into your Christhood … opportunities to move further along on that incredible journey of your own spiritual growth and development.  So we encourage you to Cross Your Heart and Hope to — no, we want you to KNOW that you will —

• See Truth,
• Speak Truth, and
• Be Truth. .. and let your light shine —

So you can experience the joy of enlightenment as you walk the spiritual path on practical feet.

Check out our Podcast!

You don’t have to miss a single Truth talk, because it is now available easily on the web. Just visit http://uslc.mypodcast.com and put on your headset. You can also subscribe to receive the message by podcast each week by clicking on one of the “Subscribe With” links in the right column.

If we planted an apple seed, how many of you would believe that we would actually get an apple tree?

If we squeezed an orange, how many of you would believe that we’d actually get orange juice?

If we visualize an abundant flow of prosperity flowing through our connection with Divine Substance, how many of you would believe we would actually see a manifestation of prosperity?

Why is it so easy to believe, without doubt, that apple seeds produce apple trees, and oranges produce orange juice — but so difficult to believe that divine Substance produces everything we ever need in terms of our supply? Maybe it has something to do with what we have actually seen and experienced, versus what we have been told, but haven’t actually experienced.

This truly is the foundation of Faith!  In John 20:29, Jesus said to Thomas, “…because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.”

Believing even when we have not seen: that’s faith. But we think it is really important to recognize that Faith is a powerful essence which we can develop and grow. We get critical of ourselves, and beat ourselves up, when it appears we don’t have the faith we think we should. But look at how you handle other growth areas in your life.

If you decide to learn to play the piano, do you sit down and expect to play Mozart perfectly on your first sitting? If you decide to take up golf or tennis, do you expect to walk in and hit the perfect drive or land the perfect serve on your first lesson? If you decide to take up ballroom dancing, do you expect to go out on the dance floor and do a professional-level routine your first day out? Of course not! Whenever we take up a new skill or hobby, we realize there is a learning curve, and we go in expecting — and allowing — ourselves to be bad before we get good! We know we will go through a period of seeing our ability grow, as we willingly put in the time to practice and learn. And we also discover that with each thing we learn, there is another level to tackle. There’s always more to learn. Even professionals work with coaches, and continue to refine and perfect their skills, always pushing the envelop and discovering new and better ways to do things in their chosen field.

Why should our development of our Faith faculty be any different? So here’s what you need to know about faith. First of all: You never have no faith! That’s a convoluted sentence, isn’t it? But think about it. Faith is one of the Divine powers inherent within each of us. It is our responsibility to quicken or strengthen it. So we are really being incorrect when we say, “I lost my faith or I don’t have any faith.” You cannot lose your faith — you might just have forgotten how to use it. The comforting knowledge is that your faith is always there, just waiting to be developed.

Emilie Cady, in her masterpiece Lessons In Truth, talks about the different levels of faith. From her work, we have created a kind of continuum of faith, which helps us identify where we are in a certain situation—and also helps us recognize the Truth of where we can be. Here’s how it works:

We begin with HOPE. Hope takes a lot of flack in spiritual circles as a kind of cop out, but we want to go on record saying hope is an important element on our spiritual journey, because hope provides the stimulus to keep someone moving forward when otherwise they may give up. It’s kind of like our training wheels! And when we don’t have a really strengthened Faith faculty, hope is the light at the end of the tunnel that keeps our journey going in the right direction! You hear people say things like, “Don’t give them false hope.” We personally believe there is no such thing as false hope. There are lies, and wishful thinking, but if there is hope, it is real and powerful and affirming.

So why don’t we just want to operate at the hope level? When we work from a basis of hope, we tend to live in a fearful state, concerned that we may or may not receive. And in the Hope state, we fall into the habit of seeing our affirmations, dream boards, and visualizations as magic bullets. If we don’t say it just right, or create it perfectly, we won’t manifest the result. But it’s a start, and we’ve all been there (at different times in different situations, we may even revisit!)

We want to move up the Faith Ladder, moving into Blind Faith.  Blind faith is where we move forward, instinctively feeling that wherever we are, God is, and all is well. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and we don’t know how or why, but we just believe things will work out. This Blind Faith is higher than hope on our continuum, because it is based on Truth, but we may find ourselves having to reassure ourselves often that it will work, it may be hit and miss, and we may question it often when we don’t see the results we expect as quickly as we expect them. But the important thing is that we persist, and continue to hold strong to the Truth we believe and use the tools, even if we aren’t sure why. Blind faith is kind of like magic — it is only magic until we know how it is done! As we grow and learn …

We are able to move to the higher level  of Faith—Understanding Faith. This is where we know and understand that there are spiritual laws as immutable as physical laws. For example, we know that the law of gravity just is, and when someone is jumping off a building, the law does not question who the person is, what job they have, or how much money or power they possess. The law operates as it operates. If the person jumps, they fall. They will have a hard, maybe fatal landing, or if they chose to have the right equipment, they will experience an amazing planned adventure. It wasn’t the law’s decision — the law operated. The people involved knew the law, and chose how they would use it!

Once we realize that spiritual laws operate the same way, we move into that powerful level of Understanding Faith, where we can be just as certain that when we apply spiritual laws, we are assured of the results that will follow. And that brings us to one other similarity between our apple seed and our orange analogies: you have to do something to get the desired  result.

To quote Emilie Cady): “One of the unerring truths in the universe is that the supply of every good always awaits the demand. Another truth is that the demand must be made before the supply can come forth. (You could have a bank account filled with money, but the only way to access it is to request a withdrawal.) To recognize these two statements of Truth and to affirm them are the whole secret of understanding faith—faith based on principle!”

When we operate from Understanding Faith, we can say, “We will have the funds and resources necessary to  move forward with this project” with as much conviction as we say, “We will squeeze this orange and get orange juice!”

As you move forward on your spiritual journey, recognize it is a process of growing and developing your Faith Quotient — Faithing it till you make it through practice:

• affirming the Truth of what you know,
• denying any power to doubt,
• moving forward claiming the good that is yours by right of consciousness!
• And become aware! Bless the inflow and outflow of everything in your life, knowing that it is good.

Our abundance, inner peace, and joy is here, right now, right in front of us. We can know it, because Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly!” And He directed us, “Ask, believing you have received…” We can KNOW, without any doubt, that we can Faith it till we make it as we walk the spiritual path on practical feet!

Has everyone mastered the First Pillar of Prosperity – Demolition? Once we’ve demo’d the things that are no longer serving us, we are at a point where we can start focusing on Pillar #2: Definition.

In the show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which we used as a metaphor for our pillars, it is interesting to see what happens once they complete the demo. The team creates a design plan, where they have defined what the new home will look like. They begin with “big picture” ~ and then they get more specific, focusing on individual rooms. Each designer takes one or two rooms, and puts their attention there. The specificity of each room is based on really understanding the family … their “ESSENCE.”

The same is true in our expansion of Prosperity Consciousness. We need to define specifically what prosperous, abundant living looks like — for us. For example: Imagine you have been given the opportunity to plan and take your ideal vacation. What would it be? What do you think the chances are that everyone reading this article would give the same answer? Slim to none! Each of us has our own idea of what that perfect vacation would be … and those images are vastly different!

We wouldn’t let others force their favorite vacation on us — but how often do we allow others to force their definition of prosperity and success on us? For example, we had a colleague who got a great job at a Fortune 100 company, doing the technical, nerdy, computer work he absolutely loved! Guess what happened? He did his job so well; he was rewarded with a promotion into management, where all of a sudden he had to work with people instead of technology. He hated it, but couldn’t get back to what he loved because it would “ruin” his career!

Right about now, you’re probably expecting us to say that Pillar 2, Definition, is going to be some kind of goal setting message. We do believe goal setting is a very useful process, but for his process, we want to “notch it up” to a more spiritual approach. Definition, from a Prosperity Consciousness perspective, is based on our Unity Principles, and is the next logical phase after Demolition.

You see, goal setting is focusing on things we want to achieve — and that’s okay. But in Matthew 6:33, Jesus the Christ gave us the real formula for our Definition: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” That’s the best goal-setting plan we can offer! To go a little deeper in strengthening our prosperity consciousness, there are actually three questions we need to ask — and answer in order to move through the Definition phase. They are:

• Who am I?
• What is my purpose?
• What is the ESSENCE of prosperous and abundant living for me?

The first two questions are easy to answer — and we can help you with them by giving you Truth principles to wrap your mind around. The third one is more individual – and is different for each of us. What we can do there is give you a process to help you clarify it more clearly.

For this article, let’s look at that first question: Who am I?

It is so important to remember: You are God expressing Godness as you. We could just leave it at that, but we’re thinking you may want to work a little on this one!

This week, spend some time becoming aware of how you talk to yourself.

Would you go into prayer and say, “Dear God, how could you be so stupid?” Probably not! Yet whenever you look in the mirror, and say, “How could I be so stupid?” that is essentially what you are doing! So here’s your adventure for the week: Become consciously aware of how you talk to yourself, and be sure that what you say is worthy of speaking to God. When you find yourself saying belittling things, immediately say “DELETE!” and replace it with a positive phrase.

The next level of this first question is realizing that what is true for you is true for all: each of us has that spark of divinity within. So — how are you talking to and treating others? Practice the Namaste technique: “I behold the Christ/the Divine in you. I see you at your highest spiritual best.” It literally transforms the way you react to others — and affects how they react to you!

A story is told by a woman from Philadelphia, PA, of running out of the drug store where she’d gone to pick up a prescription, only to find a police officer standing at her car, ticket pad in hand. “Oh, no, please don’t give me a ticket! I forgot to put money in the meter – but I’ll move right away!”

The officer responded, “I wasn’t going to give you a ticket – that’s why I’m standing here – to be sure you don’t get one.”

Unsure, surprised, and somewhat puzzled, the woman murmured “Thanks.”

“You don’t remember me, do you?” the officer continued.  “I remember you! I went through a difficult time in my life, and ended up homeless for a while. You treated me like I was a real person whenever you passed by me, and you always had a kind word to say. This is my way of saying, Thanks!”

Matthew 25:31-46 tells the story of the king who said, I was hungry, and you fed me; thirsty and you gave me drink;  a stranger and you took me  in; naked and you clothed me; sick, and you visited me… people asked when, and he replied, “Just as you did to the least of these, you did it to me.”

To expand your prosperity consciousness, begin with the first question of Pillar #2: Definition.  Be clear in defining yourself as God, expressing Godness as you.

DELIGHT

At last, we are finishing our series focusing on the Four Pillars of Prosperity! We wrap up with the third phase of our Fourth Pillar: Delight. Thus far, we’ve looked at ways you can Delight in all that you have, and Delight in all that you give. This week:

Delight in all that you receive:

Think about a gift you gave to someone recently. Recall your excitement in selecting it (or making it), and how you felt as you wrapped it up and delivered it. Now, imagine that you received no acknowledgement at all. You know, there’s nothing worse than giving something, and not feeling a sense of appreciation on the part of the one you gave it to. It breaks the energy of giving.

Now think about the worst gift you ever received. That gift that wasn’t “you” — was not what you really wanted — created a sense of real disappointment in you. Now think about the person who gave it to you. Imagine how they felt in picking out the gift (or making it); the excitement they had in giving it to you. How did you respond when you received it?

Think about 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.

Sometimes receiving with delight is the toughest challenge of all — especially when we find ourselves in a place of need, where we have to 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 keeping that Giving/Receiving Principle alive and active in our lives!

Charles Fillmore said, “It has been found by experience that [people] increase [their] blessings by being grateful for what [they have]. Gratitude even on the mental plane is a great magnet. When gratitude is expressed from the spiritual standpoint, it is powerfully augmented.”

When we are living from a Spiritual Consciousness of Delight, regardless of the situation we are facing, whatever we need flows to us by divine grace.

There is a great story about a zoo that had just acquired a kangaroo. To accommodate their new acquisition, they built a 10-foot high fence. To their surprise, the next day they found the kangaroo outside the fence, jumping around. So, they extended the height of the fence to 15 feet. The next morning, there was the kangaroo, outside the fence again, jumping around joyfully. So they built a 30-foot fence ~ and the kangaroo out again!

As you know, zoo animals talk to one another! The giraffe asked the kangaroo, “How tall do you think they’ll have to make that fence to keep you inside?” The kangaroo replied, “I don’t know! Maybe 1,000 feet, if they keep leaving the gate unlocked!”

That’s a great metaphor for our Prosperity Consciousness! We too often focus on the problems, when all the time, the gate is unlocked, and our prosperity is there for the claiming!

We encourage you to walk through that gate, and hop joyfully around, experiencing abundant prosperity in every area of your life! Practice the Four Pillars of Prosperity: Demolition; Definition; Declaration; and Delight ~ and you will live life more abundantly!

DELIGHT

Last week, we looked at the power of living from a sense of Delight in all you have. This week, we focus on the second part of our Delight formula:

Delight in all that you give:

The first and simplest way to become aware of delighting in how you give is to look at how you give things to others. Do you give because you feel you have to, or because it is expected? Just because it is someone’s birthday, or a special holiday, you may find yourself feeling compelled to run to the store, grab the first thing that flies off the shelf at you, have the store wrap it up, and then either drop it in the mail or hand deliver it, with a sense of relief that it is taken care of!

While that takes care of the required social need, how is it feeling from a spiritual abundance point of view? This week, begin to take delight in all you give! When it is time to give a gift to someone, really put some thought into what they would enjoy receiving. It is not the cost that is important; it is the thought behind the gift that makes it special. Savor the inner joy in finding just the right thing, and preparing the gift in a special way. And enjoy the giving as well.

For example, we were unable to visit our family this past year for Christmas, and had to send our gifts. But we all got on the phone together on Christmas day, and opened each other’s gifts during the call! We got to share our joy in both the giving and receiving by making the time special.

Not just things we give to others – but also be aware of other ways you give … and notice if you are giving gratefully: words; expressions; help; comfort; time.

(Our visitors — 10 of us at dinner, ranging from age 17 months to 89 years old — everyone gave their time, joyfully, to come together as family and friends, and what a joyful evening we all had!)

But let’s amp this up a few levels! It is not just delighting in the things you give to others. Let’s also be aware of the other ways you give … and notice if you are giving gratefully: For example, when you give words; expressions; help; comfort; time – are you giving from a place of delight? Become aware of how you are feeling as you give of yourself.

One of our favorite activities is to practice a phrase shift. Every time you catch yourself saying “I have to…” simply rephrase it to say “I get to…” Notice the difference in how you feel! For example, instead of saying “I have to take my mother grocery shopping today” try saying “I get to take my mother grocery shopping today!” Do you catch the difference?

And don’t forget about your attitude as you give money to pay bills and purchase things. Give joyfully! We write “Gladly” on our checks, right above the words “Pay to the order of…” It helps us experience a sense of joy as we send our money out into the world. By allowing a sense of joy to flow through us, we can send that joy out to others through our words and actions.

Enrich your prosperity and all those whose lives you touch by practicing this second phase of our fourth pillar of prosperity: Delight.

Next week we end the Pillars of Prosperity series with the third part of our fourth pillar!

DELIGHT

So here we are, at the fourth and final pillar of prosperity! So far, we’ve talked about Demolition (getting rid of what is no longer serving you, on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual realms); Definition (of who you really are, what your purpose is, and what your essence, in terms of prosperity and abundance, is); and Declaration (in consciousness, words, and actions — Let’s do it! and Move that bus!)

That brings us to our 4^th and final pillar: Delight!

Going back to our metaphor of the television show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, there are several examples of how Delight shows up:

• The obvious delight of the family, when they see their new home;
• Delight of Ty and the design team, in showing the home;
• Delight of the builders and volunteers, who always claim they receive so much more than they give!

Delight truly opens the Consciousness and allows a free-flow of abundance and prosperity to come to you, in ways you can never even imagine!

We have a blessing we use in our Unity celebration service, as a part of the offering: Divine Love, through me, blesses and multiplies all the I have, all that I give, and all that I receive. We want to take a new look at that familiar blessing, as we evaluate what Delight means. And interestingly enough, the familiar blessing has three phases, which actually  create a perfect outline for understanding an Extreme Level of Delight. Normally, when we repeat that blessing, we are mentally thinking about money. But let’s “amp it up” into a description of our consciousness, and see where it take us!

Delight in all you have:

Of course, this includes being grateful for the things you have. And we emphasize—all you have … without begrudging what others have, or always longing for what you wish you had.

But there’s a deeper level here: don’t we all have things we don’t necessarily feel grateful for: 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. No matter what I “have,” I am grateful! Not for … but from! Read that one more time: not for … but from! Living from that sense of delight in knowing I am one with God and all is well, I can realize that any experience is simply “curriculum,” and I can learn and grow.

This week, practice living FROM a place of delight, claiming joy and gratitude that flows from deep within your very being, rather than expecting it to come from outer, external things. Journal your experiences as you begin to feel that sense of pure delight, regardless of outer appearance!

Next week, we will explore the second phase of Delight!

Declaration

Last week we took a look at the statement used so often by the Extreme Makeover – Home Edition crew: “Let’s do it!” We applied that to our own declarations, and the value of paying attention to our intentions, with particular emphasis on our thoughts, words, and actions.

This week, as we wrap up our third pillar of prosperity, Declaration, we look at the other strong statement used every week on the show: Move That Bus!”

Perhaps the biggest barrier to declaring our prosperity is the world of appearance. And that’s where this second declaration from the TV show comes in. “Move That Bus” – shouted at the end of the show – the Reveal — when the family is ready to see the beautiful home that has been created for them. This is a demonstration statement, a proclamation that manifestation has occurred, and you just need to remove any obstacles that are in the way of seeing it.

We are so deceived by what looks to be reality, and we allow our doubts, our fears, our insecurities, other people’s doubts, and so much else to block us from seeing and experiencing our true prosperity and abundance. This is where we need to say, “Move That Bus!” Imagine that the bus represents those doubts and emotions that are blocking us. On the other side of the bus is our manifested good. Our faith is the driver of the bus. So we must reach into the Consciousness of our One-ness with God, and speak to our Faith power center, telling it to Move That Bus!

Let’s practice! Right now, think of the biggest barrier you are allowing to stand between you and the essence of what you believe is your abundance and prosperity. Got it? Now, call on your power of intention as you shout it aloud (yes, we’re serious about this! Shout it out!): “Faith, MOVE THAT BUS!” (We encourage you to shout it out three times, getting stronger and more enthusiastic with each repetition!)

Do you feel the incredible energy flowing through your body? Do you feel a positive surge of hope, of intention, of a desire to take action? That’s because you have just set it into motion! When you declare it, you are claiming your abundance and prosperity … and it shall be yours!

Put this into practice this week. Next week we reveal the fourth and final Pillar of Prosperity that can literally transform your life!