SEASIDE CENTER FOR SPIRITUAL LIVING
Seaside's Vision is to be a spiritual nexus inspiring people to live their dreams.
Our Purpose is: Celebrating our Divinity, Loving our Humanity, Serving our Community.

What a joy it is to be here today, with all of you and to be in this wonderful place of light in Encinitas, where the sun is shining brightly inside here and it feeeels good. Oh, I love Sundays. They're so much fun.

Well, let's see... it's the month of abundance. It's affirming abundance in your life. Is it working? Goood. I love talking about abundance, because my world always tends to reflect whatever it is I'm working on. So, I stay away from the big, tough ones and I work with the wonderful aspects of Spirit. This month it's about abundance and today it's about 'increasing' -- the power of increase. It's really about stepping into the flow of Spirit. It is about participating in the giving and receiving of the Divine. It's not just doing it because that is the act that you are doing, because that is the what you are supposed to do, because 'that is the principle says, so I'm just doing it'. It's the feeling behind it. It's not about writing that check once a month to the starving kids out in Ethiopia. That's a good thing to do, but it's not about going through the routine, going through the ritual. It is about experiencing that presence. That spiritual wealth, that spiritual abundance is a consciousness. It is about being in that flow with life. It's not just about doing the right things and sending off to that charity. It is about being a part of that.

Over in ancient China, they used to really honor the artists and the craftsmen and women who did the things that just brought out the best of whatever it was that they were working on. The old Taoist philosophy in Japan sprung and offshoot called Zen. the Zen was about being part of the order. It was about being part of the flow. It was about those individuals who could attune themselves with whatever it was that they were working on. Now, it didn't say just working on the spiritual stuff. It's whatever one was working on. If you're a gardener, it's about being in tune with the Spirit and giving your absolute best and receiving from the Spirit the guidance and the direction to develop that. You could have a master potter who could create a piece of pottery that didn't look physically perfect and yet had an aura about it. Have you ever seen a piece of art that just wasn't perfect, but yet there was a spirit to it that moved your soul? It was those individuals that got in touch with that flow. They gave of themselves to that which they were working on. That's about increasing in your world. That's the 'power of increase' -- giving yourself fully to that which you are doing and the Zen, this flow... I mean they wrote a book -- 'The Zen of Motorcycle Riding'. The Zen of motorcycles... I mean come on. But, the key there is that flow, is that Spirit in all areas of your life. Now, do all areas of your life reflect abundance.

What about your surroundings? I'm not talking about that nice house sitting over on the bluff, overlooking the ocean. You don't have to have one of those to be into abundance. What I'm talking about is does your environment reflect order? Or, do you have mounds of junk all over that just reminds you that you don't have time to deal with it? YOU DON'T HAVE TIME. Look at what goes into the subjective. Or, do you have a leaky faucet that just drips, drips, drips and it's like, 'Well, I'll get around to calling a plumber. I don't really want to spend the money.' What ever the thinking is behind it, it goes into the subjective... 'Don't have, don't have, don't have.' What flow are you into? What about the car? Does it have any dents or scratches in it? Every time you go to your car you see this big old ding and think, 'Oh gosh, I've got to get that fixed. I just haven't got the money right now, or haven't got the time, or it's just been inconvenient.' What ever the reasoning, every time you open that door, does it remind you of not having? When I'm talking about environment -- this is it. You could be living in the lowest part of town, but if the world around you is elegant, if the world around you reminds you of the magnificence of your being, then, it is empowering, then it is abundance.

That's the power of increase. You are part of that flow of Spirit that is giving to you, that is receiving back. That is the flow. That is the motion I am speaking about. The things around you are reminding you of the power. So, what is it you want in the world? What is it you would like to create? People work on their affirmations and then they see these things that go in there and they go, 'ahhhhh'. They go through the ritual of writing a check, they go the ritual of writing their goals, but yet, everything around them is not part of that abundant flow. Do you follow where I am going with this? You know, you can do stuff. You can write that check. You can do your goals. You can take the workshops. But, if the environment is not part of the flow of Spirit that is giving you, sourcing you, allowing you to receive back, you're missing out on the power of increase that is a natural unfoldment of being part of the order of life. You don't have to know how to create in your world. That's not your job. That's a relief!!! It's good news! I'm telling you... you don't have to know how, you just have to know what. Your subjective takes the cues and gives you the how to's. But, those who like control in their world, find this a difficult concept to grasp. It's like God is the Driver of a Greyhound bus. You get on the Greyhound bus and if you could just sit and relax... no problem. Spirit, the Driver, God, what have you, knows how to get you there. But, the challenge usually shows up the minute you decide you want to get on that Greyhound bus and go to the ticket window and you try to order a ticket and you vacillate... 'Do I want to go here or do I want to go there?' They can give you the ticket, but you're debating here, there, your vacillating, back and forth. How can Spirit fill that mold. You're not part of the flow yet. You're trying to check it out... 'Should I jump in? Shouldn't I?' --cold, dry... Then, you get your ticket and you get on the bus and what do you want to do? You want to take the steering wheel away from the Driver. 'Let me show you how to drive. I know the shortest, quickest, most direct route, how to miss the traffic.' My goodness, what we do to keep ourselves into struggle and resistance.

It's about the flow. The power of increase is about being one with that flow of Spirit. You've got the whole river. You've got the whole universe flowing, moving right into that vortex in a funnel of where you are. You are right at that funnel. That's the power. and yet, we kind of cut it off and say, 'Heh God, I'll take care of it.' God knows the way. It's beyond you. If you can really believe that, you're going to watch miraculous things begin to manifest as your life. The depth of creation will be profound. And the ways in which it will show up in your world will be routes that you would never for a moment have conceived of. But, you've got to trust.

There was this seventeen year old girl. Her mom, Jane Fisher, tells the story of her daughter going to the Madison County Junior Livestock Sale. I guess they do the sale. Her daughter was wondering whether or not to sell her shaggy, little, funny looking lamb. All the mother really cared about was that her daughter would make through the day without fainting or collapsing like she had done the day before, because what Katie had been going through was a battle with cancer. For months she had just seen the inside of hospitals, doing the gauntlet of radiation and chemotherapy and all those things that go with that particular choice of battle. This was Katie's first day out into the world, into the outside and she really debated about whether she wanted to sell her little lamb. She really wanted some spending money. She wanted more than just a few cents. So, she decided she would and went out into the center of the ring and set up her lamb for everybody to see. The lambs had been getting about two dollars a pound, so she decided she was willing to do it. They do that kind of thing with the kids -- these livestock auctions in the high schools. She stayed strong enough that day and set her lamb up. The auctioneer, Roger Wilson, was inspired in the moment and told the people in the audience that Katie had been dealing with a difficulty that is extremely unpleasant and kind of indicated what was going on. The results were amazing what took place after that. The bidding started coming in and she sold her little lamb for sixteen dollars and fifty cents a pound. But, it didn't end there. The person who bought the lamb paid and then gave her the lamb back and they sold it again and they gave it back and they sold it again and again. Her mom said all she could remember was the price of the first one that brought in sixteen dollars and fifty cents. After that, all she could remember was crying and hearing the crowd yelling "resell, resell". The people in this town, the families were getting together and making bids on this lamb and giving it back. But, the businesses, that's when the money really started showing up, when the businesses started bidding. After the thirty-sixth sale, they had raised over sixteen thousands dollars to pay off the medical expenses that she had incurred. And she got to go home with her little lamb that day.

Just look at the power that is there. Those ideas that we don't have about the power of God. If you want to experience the increase, you have to open up, but you have to give. That's how you open those gates. You have to be willing to open. But our world, as I noticed, has inside of some... I listen to stories like this and I know that people come forward who haven't come forward before. I watch as sometimes too, these outreaches, whether it's at the orphanages or the Thanksgiving meals for the homeless and I watch people break free. What has happen to some in consciousness, is almost like they have been drugged by apathy. They are just doing what it takes, the brain-numb experience in life to deal with life, to go through the routines. You talk about cutting off the flow. Whaaack!!! Gone!!! But, people have inside of them, I truly believe, that which is good, because that's God. I watch experiences like that awaken, in individuals, their aliveness, their goodness, their passion, their desire to be in life. But, we miss out on so much in life because of that numbness, because of that apathy. Actually, the truth is, we miss out on so much in life because we forget to ask for it. WE FORGET TO ASK. God is unlimited and yet, we are the ones who have limited ourselves with this Divine experience. Is God unlimited? We're the ones that put the limit on our God. We're the ones that have juggled around in the world trying to rearrange ourselves so we can receive the good from Spirit. It's like trying to take the wheel away from the bus Driver, as opposed to stepping into that flow and being guided and a willingness to step out in a great way.

T.S. Eliot wrote, "Only those who risk going too far could ever possibly find out how far they can go." Only those who are willing to go too far are ever going to find out where their limit is. Have you ever pushed yourself to find the stuff you have inside you? I know skiers... unless you fall a couple of times in the course of the day, you're not pushing yourself to the edge, to the limit. Well, in our lives, if we're not falling sometimes, we haven't gotten to the edge of our experience, our possibilities, which are infinite. It's OK to fall, to make a mistake. You pick yourself back up. You get on the skis. You get back on track. You start going. Here's a game for you to practice. I like this game. You just go for the best in your world, have fun with it. Try to figure out what is the best I could experience here. I mean... you're going for a job... there is this one position available and one thousand applicants... go for it. Put your name in there. Have fun with it. So what if you don't get it. If you're throwing a party and there is someone you really want to have come to your party -- a big star or someone -- ask them. Right now we are not receiving the good in our life because we haven't asked Spirit for it. Well, it's true!!! In our individual lives it's the same thing. What are you not asking for from life so It can source you, so it can take care of you.

Have you ever gone into a city and the airport and you go out of the terminal and you have the lineup of cabbies right there. You jump in the cab and tell him to go to the city. You know the caliber of individuals that drive cabs. You know like maybe halfway house individuals... no this is judgment, I'm sorry. But, you get into a cab and tell him to take you to the city and it's what... about thirty bucks. Have you ever stopped to notice the limos that are right next to the cabs? If you ever get into one of those, you'll discover that the price of those is not much more that the price to ride in a cab. Instead of paying thirty bucks, you pay maybe thirty-five dollars and you get a class act limo comfort, mink carpet, air-conditioner, the whole bit. But, you have to be willing to step into that limo instead of the cab. You have to be willing to ask. You have to be willing to claim. You have to be willing to step into that flow. You have to be willing to give of yourself so you can receive. And, once you are in that flow, there is a power of increase that brings into your life wonderful experiences in this thing life.

There was this guy, Kevin. Kevin was slower that most kids. They say if there was one word to describe Kevin, it would be slow. It took him a lot longer to learn his ABC's. He was one of those kids, on the playground, that never came in first in a race. He usually came in last. So, when his church, his pastor announced that the boys were going to be doing a basketball team, Kevin got excited about it. Kevin may have been slow, but he was one of those kids that had a heart as big as the mountain. He had a smile that looked like the summer sun. His personality was so infectious, it was fun to be around him. So, when the pastor said they were going to do this boys' basketball team, Kevin was the first to say, 'Count me in.' His mom said OK. Kevin practiced so hard as if he was going to be playing on the NBA. He was always out there. He had this favorite spot, his only spot. He stood right in mid court around the free-throw line and he would shoot baskets, all day long. One day, one of them went 'swishhh' and went in there. He said, 'Heh, coach...'. He was all excited. And the day before his team was to play their first game the coach gave out the jerseys. Kevin got number twelve, red jersey number twelve. He was so excited. He put it on and he hardly ever took it off other than to wash it sometimes. One Sunday morning the minister was talking and in the middle, Kevin stood up and held up his great sweater and said, 'Heh, look at this ' for God and everyone to see. He loved it so much. Well, all the boys loved this church basketball team and they loved the basketball coach, the pastor and all that, but love doesn't necessarily sink the baskets and their team went on to lose every game that season. Every game but one. The one were the other team got caught in a blizzard and couldn't make it. They lost by big margins and so when it came to the final round of the tournament play, the last place team gets the wonderful gift of playing the top seeded or the undefeated basketball team. They went on, as one would imagine, just getting pounced upon.

Towards the end of the fourth quarter, they were down by thirty points. One of the kids on Kevin's team called time out and the coach, Pastor Randy, said, "What'd you do that for?" He said, "Well, you've had Kevin play a little bit of every game, but he hasn't scored any points. We've lost this one. It's over. Why don't we give the ball to Kevin and let him score a basket." They figured well, nothing to lose, might as well. And so, when they broke up from their huddle, Kevin went running out with a higher skip in his walk and ran out to his designated spot by the free throw line. They gave the ball to him and he shot... and missed. It bounced off the ring, came down and big number seventeen on the other team, grabbed the ball, raced down the court... swish two points. They brought the ball back down, came in, gave it to Kevin again, Kevin shot... boom down it came... Kevin missed. This sequence went on a few times back and forth. Finally, when he shot and missed again, number seventeen figured out what was going on so he gave the ball back to Kevin. Kevin stood there, shot and he missed again. The whole team figured it out and they were circling around and giving him the ball. The audience was a little slower at getting it, but once they figured it out, they were up on their feet cheering and clapping and going on. And, Kevin was shooting and missing. And the coach knew the game had to be over by now. He looked up at the clock and the seconds were frozen at forty-six seconds. The referees were standing by the scorers' clapping and chanting with everyone else, "Kevin, Kevin, Kevin." Finally, he shot... swoosh, through the net and his arms went up and he said, "I won!!! I won!!! I won!!!" Well, that team remained undefeated, but everyone left there that night feeling like a winner. Everybody left there feeling good. They had that experience of being in that flow. They were giving of themselves. They were giving and receiving. They were participating at something more than what was just happening. It may not have looked like a perfect experience or perfect bowl, but there was heart, there was Spirit, there was God. That is the Zen. That is the order. That is the wonder that flows. And when we can catch the truth of ourselves we can remember it more and more.

As we catch the truth of ourselves we will find such an abundance and an increase of well-being and being able to move through life. What I have noticed our church is about is like it's a school room for stretching your ability to see. We stretch your ability so you can see a new way and different way, maybe a way in which the Driver wants to take you. But, it's up to you to make it welcome. You don't make it happen, that's the 'how to' stuff. But, are you making the Spirit welcome in your life? Are you making those opportunities for something greater to be experienced, a place for It to show up? Are you so much in control that you want to have that wheel so you know it goes in the direction you want it to go? God doesn't plant these aspirations in us without giving us the ability to bring it about. Have you got that? God doesn't give you the aspirations, those visions without the ability to bring it about, without the 'how to's' to get there.

The Bible said... it still does... "Would God bring you to the point of birth and not deliver?" 'Would God bring you to that point of birth and not deliver?' The less resistance you have, the more the flow. That's so basic. Let me say that again. The less resistance you have, the more the flow. That's so basic. I like it!!! You think about that. The less you resist, the more Spirit flows. So, if you give up the criticism, the condemnation, the skepticism, the sarcasm, the cynicism, all these things that create resistance; that create the blocks for that Spirit to get stuck on, the less the resistance, the greater the flow. It seems so simple to me. Let's just get rid of the resistance in our life. Let's give up those areas that remind us that we are impoverished. Let us take a few minutes in our day and fix that faucet. Let us clean up the environment, pull the weeds in our life, in our office, or where ever they may be sprouting an showing their heads. The less resistance, the less stuff that's saying, 'Heh, you're not making it.', the more It will flow into your life. Gosh that's simple. That's power when we can keep it that simple.

One of the things that creates the resistance is getting caught up in trying to hold on to what we've finally created. You know... 'I worked all my life to create this house, this car, this job, this relationship.' I want you to know that the things that we are experiencing here in this life are only on loan. You're going to have to leave them. God's only rented them to you for a short time. You either have a choice of letting go of them and surrendering them... if you are in need of them at this point in your life you don't have to... I mean it would be ridiculous for me to give up my pants right now. I need them. If there are things in your life that may be supporting you, right now, that may not be appropriate to give up, and I'm not saying, 'Heh, Christian says give, means you go and give up everything.' No, of course not!! There may be some things that serve you well at this moment in your life. I'm not talking about giving that up. What I'm talking about is being in the flow and giving up the attachment, the having to hold things, because as long as we are into the attachments to possessions, which at death we're going to have to give up anyway, we are then putting our energy on the outside of ourselves. We're putting it outside. And, as long as our energy is going on the outside to those things, we're missing out that it is the inside that creates. If we have the emotions to the way things are supposed to look outside, we're missing out on that inner connection that it's on the inside that all is created; it's on the inside that the infinite expresses itself; it's on the inside in which we can connect with Source; it's on the inside where there is that Power that flows. If we truly believe that God is infinite... do we? ...and Spirit is on the inside and you're on the inside, then what you have is infinite, infinite potential. As long as we're not hooked on the outside, but if we're coming from the inside; if we're coming from that place of flow, we're going to watch a wealth unfold in our life, because we're attached to the things, but rather because we are moving with the Source and Spirit.

Henry Beecher says, "It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he does." We are rich by what we are, which is God. So, if what you are, is things, then you're denying that. If what you are is connected with Source, then you are rich in Spirit and God and you will move in ways that inspire by Source.

There was this guy named Kenneth, who was in junior high. He got real excited when the Special Olympics were coming to his junior high. Little Kenneth was running in two races that day and his mom and dad, during the first race, were cheering him on. As Kenneth crossed the finish line, in the Special Olympics that day, first, he stood and got his ribbon. The crowd cheered him and he was filled with excitement and his blue ribbon and he loved that sound. Then, when he was running the second race, he was running and out in front again and about to cross the finish line and the crowd was cheering... and he stopped. He stepped off the track. Later on his mom lovingly said that if he hadn't stopped running he would have run that race. He very innocently said, "But mom, I already have a ribbon and Billy doesn't." That's richness. That's not being attached to the outside. That's being part of that flow. The kind of stuff that touches your heart, that's the power, 'the power of increase'. That is the power that inspires us to be able to give like they did for Katy and her little lamb and will shake us free of any apathy that we might find ourselves stuck in. It will allow us to remember who we truly are, which is the presence of God. The presence of God is seeking expression in and through you and as you. God is always being God. God is always being God. And, It's revealing Itself through you. God is revealing Itself as you.

So, my challenge to you this week is to witness the affluent and the abundant expression of God in your life by giving and receiving and you cannot help but experience the 'power of increase'.

God bless us all.

Rev. Christian Sorensen

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