In Unity, I’ve heard it said that Lent can stand for “Loose every negative thought” and while that is a cute axiom, this forty day preparation for Easter is an opportunity to choose to commune with our spiritual nature. When we do commune with our Light within we discover our capacity to overcome anything.
We find in John 16:32 Jesus, says to us “…The hour is coming when you will leave me alone, yet I am not alone because the Father is with me…In the world you face persecution, but take courage, I have overcome the world.”
To be left alone, apart from the many voices in the world which cry out for our attention does not mean we must leave our homes and families, work and friends; it means we are to invest in ourselves, by giving ourselves a little attention to turn inward and touch our inner most sacred self which is right here within us now. To walk in the world from this contemplative attention involves a conversion of our mind.
Just what does this entail?
I appreciate the way Joan Chittister expresses this conversion:
She writes: “To be a contemplative we must be converted to the consciousness that makes us one with the universe, in tune with the cosmic voice of God. We must become aware of the sacred in every single element of life. We must bring beauty to birth in a poor and plastic world. We must restore the human community. We must grow in concert with the God who is within. We must be healers in a harsh society. We must become all those things that are the ground of contemplation, the fruits of contemplation, the end of contemplation.”
To turn inward, to connect with our wholeness changes us. When we allow our inner light to renew and refresh us we become kind and compassionate and our nature overcomes the world. The Light overcomes the darkness. All creatures need this light.
When I was growing up, I remember going with my best girlfriend, Debbie to her grandparents farm in Lewiston. They had a huge vegetable garden, horses, cows, pigs and chickens. After the hugs and kisses, her grandma would tell us to go to the barn to fetch some eggs and she would warn us to be quick so as not to get pecked. Her grandpa said “chickens were just plain nasty.”
Years later, I read an article that said chickens peck at each other when they don’t get enough light. Before farmers realized it was a lack of light that prompted all the pecking, they thought it was due to the nature of chickens — they were loners and couldn’t mingle without being nasty.
We are not different — If we don’t bathe in the Light of Love, we start to peck; first at ourselves and then we peck others.
Transform your consciousness by giving yourself some Light and overcome the urge to peck.
Overcome with Love,
Rev Janice
