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.

That Presence that is everywhere present, the Omnipresence, which means that where ever you are God is. God is everywhere, that great, but what does that mean. How does that work in our world?

To help illustrate that I want to share with you a piece of a story that I shared with you just before Christmas. There was a Christmas letter that a little six year old, by the name of Matthew, had written to Santa Claus. I heard it on the news and I shared it with you. It was about his baby sister, who wasn't going to live much longer with a degenital heart condition. She needed a new heart. This is a little guy who wrote a letter to Santa Claus and said: "Dear Santa, Being that you are in the North Pole, you are closer to Heaven, so would you get Rudolf to take you to Heaven and talk to God and get a heart for my baby sister, before she dies." We all went ahhh! We went on to say it's probably going to happen.

This week I heard on the news that his baby sister is the wonderful recipient of a heart. That is beautiful!!! That's the way It works. Last week we were talking about the simplicity and the way Spirit works. Well, here is a little guy who absolutely believes. He may believe in Santa Claus, but, it really doesn't matter if you want to call that Spirit. The principal behind it the givingness of life. He embodied and believed. That's the way It works. You can call It 'Santa'. You can call It 'It', which we were doing last week. You It 'Atman'. You can call It 'Yaway'. You can call It 'Yahoo' for all I care. It really doesn't matter. What matters is the embodiment, the belief, the acceptance and knowing that there is a way in which It can work in our life, no matter what the appearances might be. They might be entirely different that what you think, but if you can begin to believe in the possibility and that there is a Power that is greater than whatever situation we may be dealing with. And, have your faith in God, or in It, or in that Principal - call It what you want - to have that faith and belief and embodiment of that Principal, It will find It's way into expression in our world. What happens is, people have tended to put their faith, rather than in God, in man; or in their relationship; or in their employer. All of a sudden God, this infinite Presence with infinite possibilities, and the way It works is through you and your embodiment, the belief has been put elsewhere - on the outside. And, all of a sudden, we have put ourselves in bondage, which is what we were talking about last week, or we have put ourselves or somebody or some situation as an obligation to bring forth a certain situation and have cut off the infinite other realms of possibilities.

Ernest Holmes wrote in his book 'The Science of Mind' from the chapter called 'The Way It Works': "The Thing, then, works for us by working through us and is us, always." Therefore, our belief sets the limit to our demonstration of a principal which of itself is without limits. It is ready to fill everything because It is infinite. So, it is not a question of It's willingness, nor It's ability, it is entirely a question of our own receptivity. Can you believe? So, what is it that you are working on in your life? You don't have to share it, right now, but, I ask you to personalize this. What is it that you are working on in your life? Then, I ask you again - can you believe? When you can believe just as little Matthew believed, that life was going to bring a heart to his sister. I want us to be able to believe that Spirit or life will bring forth the answers. This is the way It works. But, the way It works is through you, not that employer, not that situation. That may become the channel, but, let us not become dependent upon a particular outcome. Let us not become attached to a situation having to look like it is to resolve itself a certain way. If we can give up that kind of parameters and say: "OK, God, if you really can direct this universe, this galaxy, then maybe you can handle my life." So, when the problem is at hand, let us know that that problem brings with it the gift of possibility. When we have a little struggle going on in our world, it gives us an opportunity to delve down deeper inside of ourselves and begin to have a conviction and the faith and the strength, that there is and answer. So, if your victory comes with that struggle. Let it be a meaningful struggle. I'm not a great believer that we have to struggle through life, but, the point I'm attempting to make here, is that unless we have to put something out; unless there is a little bit of a challenge at hand; unless there is a little mountain that we must climb, the victory is very hollow. Do you know what I mean? Unless it calls upon you delving inside of yourself to dig down, your success really comes with a sense of ..."so what?" So, the situations that may look big, or that we may call problems, or in Religious Science, call challenges or struggles, are not bad things. What happens is, they assist us to be able to experience the fulfillment, the success.

I have a good story from New Mexico, land of enchantment. There is a wonderful chapel. It is about a block down the street from the La Fonda Hotel. It is the Loretto Chapel. Those of you who have been in the area may have gone to this chapel. It is a very quaint architecture, very delicate. It was built about 1878 and the Sisters of Loretto created this chapel to look similar to one that was over in Paris. The architects came in and built this beautiful place. There wasn't really much plan put into it. They put a beautiful rose window, a beautiful alter, and they wanted a choir loft. But, when they had just about come to the completion of this beautiful chapel, they realized that they had a choir loft, but, the church or the chapel was not large enough to put in a regular stairway to get to the choir loft. So, they have a choir loft and virtually no way to get to it other than a ladder but, the ladder is not the appropriate kind of architecture. It would ruin the design of this absolutely gorgeous chapel that was created. So, they checked with all the craftsmen and women in that area of New Mexic an nobody could come up with a way to construct a stairway into the choir loft. Now, the way It works, which is what we are talking about -- these Sisters went into prayer. They didn't know what else to do. The ninth day of their prayers, a gentleman came wandering in bearded, wind-burned face, dark eyes, up from Mexico and said: "I heard you are looking to build a stairway up to the choir loft and I will do that." This gentleman went on to spend the next eight months constructing and absolutely gorgeous, spiraling twice over itself, stairway out of hard wood that could not be found in New Mexico. They didn't know where this hard fir came from. He built thirty-three steps up into the choir loft. When people go to this town, what they want to do is to go and see this beautiful stairway. When he completed it and they were looking at it and praising him, he disappeared. They didn't know who he was. He didn't take any payment for it. No praise -- he just came and built it and he was gone.
That's the way It works. When we can begin to hold an idea in mind and consciousness, the person or the place or whatever it is, will come and begin to fill that gap from where we stand to where it is we want to go. We may not know where this carpenter has come from, but, It will show up. And, once It has, once It has established It is there, anybody can now go and take a look at this beautiful spiral stairway in this cathedral. Once something is established in mind; once something is established in consciousness, it is available for anybody who wants to experience that stairway; experience that level of consciousness.

This is why, when we talk about our Practitioners and the prayer work they do, they are able to embody that level of Spiritual expression -- and it is so. Like that stairway that anybody can go and experience, that level of consciousness that has now been claimed is available for anybody that wants to experience the health or the wealth or the well being. This is one of the values of going to a Practitioner. It's not about mind transference. It's not about sending out this kind of consciousness so the patient gets it. There's only one mind. If God is omnipresent, if God is infinite, there can't be two infinities, right -- I mean, this is logical stuff, there cannot be two infinities -- if God really is all there is, then once It is claimed/acknowledged, It is available. I mean, It is always available, but, It is there and it is not about convincing a patient or somebody to get it. They don't even have to understand what it is that you are doing. How often have we prayed for our cats, or our dogs, or our plants. I've never taken my cat Ernest and sat him down on the chair and said: "OK, Ernest, let me convey to you how this metaphysical prayer works." He just gets better. This is the way It works. There is only one mind and This is the way It works. It is.

When we go to God; when we go to Spirit; when we go to the Light with a pain, we do not need to tell God, or this Life force, or It or whatever we want to call It today, "OK, I've got this pain, so make me better." Spirit knows if you go with pain, naturally the unfoldment is one of comfort. If we are experiencing a little lack in our world, we don't have to say, "OK, God, bring prosperity into my life." Spirit knows. We go to God. We experience the Presence and the prosperity, naturally shows up in our life. And, when doing our prayer work, which I'll talk more about next week, in 'Ways to Pray', we may want to choose to recognize that Presence as abundance, or that Presence as comfort, not because we are attempting to experience more comfort in our life, but, because that is the manner in which we are trying to differentiate/experience the Spirit -- not because we are trying to get it, but, because if we are working of recognizing God, this is an aspect, even if our prayers will be for something else. When we begin to recognize the Spirit, It shows up in our lives in ways that need to be filled. Spirit knows what we have need of. It is the Father's good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. It's got to be ours to receive It.

I remember working with a client. When I share working with a client or doing some counseling, I've either gotten permission or it's so far removed that I'm not breaching confidentiality. So, when I was working with this person, he was experiencing lack in his life, I remember sitting down with him and hearing, "But, Christian, I'm doing these affirmations; God is my Supply, God is Supply." Good affirmation. But, in our talking, I came to the realization that he was expecting the supply to flow to him. You know, that concept of flow, Spirit is fluid -- it works. But, all of a sudden in the conversation, I asked him, "...flow from where?" He said, "Well, ... you know ... well, it flows from ... it flows from ..." All of a sudden, there was the realization of a separation. There was a realization that there was something outside that was now going to flow to him, as if we was a straw or something.

We talk about flow. We talk about the movement of Spirit. When begin to experience the richness of life, it's not going to come from the outside. The way It works is that It comes through you. It comes through your consciousness. It comes through your embodiment.
Ernest Holmes, in his book "The Science of Mind", from the chapter "What It Does", writes:

"When we think, something happens to thought. The field through which thought operates is Infinite. There is no reason to doubt it. No matter how it is approached, to thought there can be no limit, so we will say that it is the nature of Being to react in this way. Here and now, we are surrounded by, and immersed in, an Infinite Good. How much of this Infinite Good is ours? ALL OF IT! And how much of It may we have to use? AS MUCH OF IT AS WE CAN EMBODY."

'As much as we can embody', as much as we can believe, It is ours to use. So, what is it that we begin to focus our mind on. See what our mind on, tends to be our continual player. If the mind is focused on the lack and limitation in our world, this Infinite Realm, that works through a law, the law meaning it is always happening; the law is constant, the law is mechanical, the law says yes to the level of your embodiment and your belief. It is the same principal that a Jesus is using; that a Buddha is using; that you are using. It says, "Yes." When we can learn to utilize this law by being directed from within, which is Source; which is God, rather than the manipulation of the law from our limited thinking, we will find Spirit responding to us in powerful, magnificent ways, that helps bring forth the gifts that we have to share in life.

'The breads we cast out upon the water, comes back to us.' What are those breads? What are those thoughts? What are those expressions? You are constantly casting them. That is what I was talking about; whatever our mind is continuously on Through the course of the day, that is what is going to be reflected in your life. You may say a couple of nice prayers in the morning, and then read the Science of Mind magazine, and then all day long grumble how life isn't working; how there isn't enough money. It's not the couple of nice platitudes in the morning, but, the sum total of our thinking. So, if you desire a greater level of joy or happiness, let us know, that it isn't going to come from the outside, but, it is, rather, something that comes from the inside. It is something that you get to decide, and not to be at the dictates of the external forms of our life. Because, life will tell us all sorts of ways in which it would probably be best to act. Your response is a reflection of your character. Your response is a reflection of your belief. Your response is a reflection of the embodiment at the level of belief in a power which for good, which is God, that is ours to use. The way It works is -- through you at the level of your belief.

So, I ask you this week and I challenge you this week, to take a look at what it is you do believe and think. God, bless us all.

Rev. Christian Sorensen

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