It’s a whole new phenomenon in our culture ~ the cell phone dance! You’re talking to someone, and suddenly realize they aren’t hearing you. So you move around to another place and say, “Can you hear me now?” If that doesn’t work, you move again, higher, lower, near a window, walk outside, repeating, “Can you hear me now?”

We’ve found ourselves in some really weird positions, trying to complete an important call. We’ve all felt the frustration of dropped calls, as well as unanswered prayers. We’ve noticed that the secret to answered prayers is similar to the marketing messages used to sell cell phones!

1. Free Ring tones

Who doesn’t want perfect music for their ring tone? And no matter where you are, you will hear someone’s phone go off – and sometimes people say, “Oh, I like that ring!”

Do you realize that everyone has a very special spiritual ring tone? It is a vibration that comes when we pray from our Christ Center. From a Unity perspective, we invite you to NEVER pray TO God! We believe that’s “praying amiss.” When we pray TO God, it signifies a belief in a separation ~ someone “out there” who decides what and how much good we deserve, and who, on a whim, determines whether or not to respond. We believe God is within, and when we pray, we pray FROM a consciousness of our oneness with God. So be sure you are vibrating at a high, spiritual ring tone send plenty of knee-mail (prayer) to your Indwelling Christ everyday.

2. Extended Calling Area

We recently switched cell phone service, and one of the things we paid attention to was the calling area available with our new server. We have certain places we travel, and we wanted to be sure our phone would work there. No matter how wide the coverage, it seems there are always ‘abyss’ areas that no cell phone company can cover. There just aren’t cell towers near enough to pick calls up.

With God, we have unlimited calling areas! There is no geography in Spirit. No matter how deeply embedded we may feel in lack consciousness, God is there. No matter how much we are perceiving separation, God is there. No matter how depressed or sick or angry we feel, God is there. Wherever we are, God is ~ and all is well. We are only a “Can you hear me now?” away. The moment we acknowledge our oneness there are no dropped calls!

3. Circle of Friends

Anyone who Takes a quick peek at television has seen the ad about the telecom guy who puts the geeky guys from the other companies on his circle of friends.

In a recent article in Mobile Insider, author Steve Smith describes the value of the Circle of Friends concept as a strategy that filters the world down to the people and things we value most highly and with whom we have the deepest connections. He postulates that one of the important psychological functions of the phone for many people is that it brings a feeling of intimacy and connectedness into an otherwise anonymous mass market of the street.

From a Unity perspective, we have a pretty amazing Circle of Friends: We have five basic spiritual Principles that are always there to guide us in our journey. We have our church family comprised of those with like Consciousness, who we know we can count on to be there when we need them! And we have our oneness with each other, knowing we are all one in Spirit. There is no limit to our Circle of Friends! The only thing that stands between us and answered prayer is when we are holding someone outside that circle … when we need to practice forgiveness … making sure we have nothing standing between us and Spirit. Once we have released the bonds of anger, hatred, fear, envy ~ whatever it is we need to forgive (and it may be ourselves!) ~ we suddenly realize we are standing in the open, and our reception is crystal clear!

As you move through the weeks ahead, when you find yourself looking up to the heavens and shouting, “Can you hear me now?” realize that those words are coming from the wrong direction! Remind yourself to:

• ensure you are vibrating at the ring tone of Spirit;
• affirm you are connected to an endless calling area; and
• expand your Circle of Friends through practicing forgiveness ~

When you do you will hear Spirit softly whispering, “Dear one, I have the answer! Can you hear me now?”

The search for the Holy Grail is like so many other things. We come to realize that what we are searching for is right here all the time. We don’t need to go somewhere else to discover it. We are carrying it within. So the real question is: how can we “RECOVER” it? How can we begin our own quest for our own innate grailness … our interior Christ nature. The recognition of our Christ self is the secret to the unfoldment of our divinity?

3 Quick Suggestions:

1. Be on the lookout for surprises! Many people live in a rut of daily routines. They lose sight of the surprise of living One of our favorite questions to ask congregants is “What will it take to make you say “WOW?”

Exercise: Make an “O” with your mouth. Now, make “W’s” with three fingers on each hand, and hold them next to each corner of your mouth. WOW! Be on the lookout for the wow’s in your life!

• In 1963, baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry remarked, “They’ll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run.” On July 20, 1969, a few hours after Neil Arm-strong set foot on the moon, Gaylord Perry hit his first, and only, home run.
• Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.
• The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

2. Be on the lookout for serendipity. Carl Jung called it synchronicity: the coming together of inner and outer events in a way that cannot be explained by cause and effect and that is meaningful to the observer. It is that happenstance, that “accident” that turns out to be fortuitous. It could be called “a moment of grace.”

Scotchguard was created by a 3M scientist. Scotchguard is a substance that helps prevent dirt from staining fabric. The 3M scientist was trying to make a synthetic rubber to be used in airplane fuel lines. By “accident” some of the new substance spilled on her assistant’s canvas shoe, and they couldn’t get it off. As the tennis shoe grew older, it got dingy–everywhere except where the substance had spilled. Three years later, after some trial and error, they invented Scotchgard. Serendipity occurs more often when you expect the unexpected to happen … the more you experience it, the more you experience it!

3. Be on the lookout for Spiritual Sensations … moments when you feel the presence of God … when you know that you know that you know you are plugged in and connected. It could be when you are meditating; in church; out in nature; playing with a child; etc.

Just for kicks, we googled the word “Spirituality” and in 14 hundreths of a second, it brought up 101 million hits! It’s a hot topic, and people are definitely on a quest to discover it. Go on your own personal inner journey … your own quest. Affirm your true identity: Your I- amness with God. Search for the divinity within you. All the answers are within when you become aware of your own divinity.

So, be on the lookout for surprises … for serendipity … and for spiritual sensations … and you will discover what has been within you from the moment you were born: the divine spark of God … your grailness … your Christ nature which is the truth of you.

We have the key to unlock the DaVinci Code! Let’s raise our chalices together, and toast the joining of the two halves of our consciousness. Let’s toast our shared divinity … honor our grailness … celebrate our spirituality! Let’s claim our oneness with God, and discover what a transforming difference it will make in our lives!

Over the last six seasons hundreds of thousands of young people have tried to become the ‘next American Idol.’ They have come from all walks of life, from all 50 states, and from all levels of singing ability – or no singing ability – if you know what I mean.

But they all have the same dream – stardom! And the same nemesis – Simon Cowell. Regardless of what you think of the show, the contestants, or the judges, it is entertainment Hollywood style.

Randy Jackson prides himself in being the chief dog. Paula Abdul is both maternal and compassionate. And Simon Cowell invariably offends everyone, including his fellow judges, with his caustic feedback.

Each week the contestants are judged by Randy, Paula, and Simon, and millions of people who text or call in their votes. The contestants are pushed through a media gauntlet filled with sarcasm and praise, and occasionally helpful feedback from the judges.
American Idol is great entertainment, but it is also an apt metaphor for a great truth walk. Each week the contestants are judged on three key performance factors: they’ve got to pick the right song, use good vocals, and be themselves so they can demonstrate their uniqueness.

Those same three factors define our truth walk. The quality of our truth walk depends on how well we do all three. And how well we do all three determines whether our truth walk is on track or on idle – IDLE.

Walking the spiritual path on practical feet requires what could be termed spiritual orthopedics. If we want to step confidently and lively toward the kind of life we want to live, we must make sure our thoughts and actions are congruent with the truth principles we have learned.

It doesn’t matter if we’re stepping on bare feet or shod feet, big feet, small feet, white feet or brown feet or red feet or yellow feet, tired feet or energetic feet. Each step is a tithe toward our spiritual growth. Or toward our stagnation if we stand idlely by, because we neglect to put truth principles into action.

We strive every day to:

• pick the right song – seeing everything from our Christ perspective
• use good vocals – using powerful affirmations and positive words, and
• be ourselves so that each of our me’s is the best me we can be

Have you heard people say, “I’m trying to be more spiritual, but life keeps getting in the way?”

Dan Millman has an interesting perspective on that which is, as Simon Cowell would say, “Spot on!” Millman says in his book, No Ordinary Moments: “Someone once said to me, ‘I’d love to live like a peaceful warrior and do more spiritual practices, but with a family to support, and a fulltime job, I just don’t have the time.’”

He didn’t realize, says Millman, that his family and job – his relation-ship with his wife, the responsibilities of children, and the pressures of his profession – were his spiritual practice.”

The truth is, our truth walks are never on idle. We may think we’re going nowhere spiritually, but everything we do has spiritual implications.

In his delightful book, Buddha is as Buddha Does, Lama Surya Das, who has been called the American Lama, has this to say:

“The Dalai Lama taught me that the spiritual jewel that brings us all we need and seek is the unselfish heart and compassionate mind. These are what Buddhists call indispensable highest intentions, which come from the good heart, our best self, our innermost Buddha-being.” Sound familiar?

We can use those same terms to define our innermost Christ Self. And we can express our innermost Christ Self best when we:

• pick the right song using our Christ perspective
• use the right vocals by affirming our oneness with Spirit, and
• be our true selves, our divine selves, in this earthly performance we call human beingness

Going from idle – IDLE – to I do – DO – is a command performance.