Hello Fellow Truth Students,

What is it you think God can do? Whatever it is, go ahead and know that you can do it. Why? Because you are what God is. Jesus reminded us that everything that was done by him had been done through him “by the Father.”

John 14:[8] Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.”

[9] Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, `Show us the Father’?
[10] Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
[11] Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves.
[12] “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.

Jesus is telling us in this scripture to do what he did, if you want to see God. Go to God. Jesus is reminding everyone that he is doing what we have seen him do because he did the work necessary to be able to do it: He sought the Kingdom first; He went to Source. He went to Source to find out exactly what Source is, and then let Source be what Source is, rather that telling Source what it ought to be and then throwing his arms up in despair when he found out that Source wasn’t ever going to be what Source isn’t. (I know that is a tongue twister, but read it a few times if you are having trouble with it.)

What Jesus did was celebrate the reality of Source. He didn’t resist; he accepted and threw himself fully into the reality of Spirit. That’s when the miracles started happening for him. That’s when he was able to bear witness to what God really had to offer and had always been offering. So, if you believe that God is capable of healing, then start to think of God as health and the health of God as flowing through you now. Think of God as Health, Wealth, Harmony, Wisdom, Power, and whatever else God IS. Then think of that quality of God flowing through every cell, tissue and fiber of your being. Then you will know that anything you think God can do, you are doing already.

Many Blessings,
Shawn

Hello Fellow Truth Students,

Is there something you dream about doing but you either don’t have the time or are afraid to do it? Perhaps you think you don’t have the right ideas to do it?

What is IT? Is It to meditate on a daily basis? Is IT to write a book, play or movie? Is IT just to write a letter to someone? Is IT to clean out all of the stuff that you don’t need or want anymore? Is IT to make peace with that individual you have been angry with, and you don’t want to be angry with? Is IT to take a day off and relax? Is IT an apology that needs to be expressed? What is IT that you think you don’t have time for, or can’t achieve, for any number of reasons.

First of all, I’m sure you have very sound and rational reasons for why you can’t accomplish your dreams. I know I do. Okay, that’s not true. I may have good reasons for why I haven’t finished everything, but I don’t have any good reason for why I haven’t started –unless you call fear and self loathing a good reason. I don’t…anymore. If I want to recover from fear and self loathing, I must have God thoughts instead of any other thoughts. A God thought is also a Love thought, a Wisdom thought, or a Power Thought.

“Seek Ye first the kingdom and all else will be added to You.” That tells me to seek the kingdom within before I seek what I seem to be afraid of. Seek the kingdom before I seek my belief in time. Seek the kingdom before I seek resentment and grievances. Seek the KINGDOM FIRST.

I HAVE TIME — BECAUSE IN GOD THERE IS NO TIME!
I CAN — BECAUSE GOD IS THE SOURCE OF MY THOUGHTS AND ENERGY!
I WILL — BECAUSE IT WILL ALLOW ME TO DESIRE GOD EVEN MORE THAN I ALREADY DO!
I SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD WITHIN ME — AND THEN I HAVE ALL THAT I NEED!

In Abundant Thinking,
Shawn

Hello Fellow Truth Students,

How many times do I have to forgive?!!! Then came Peter to him and said, “Lord how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?” Jesus saith unto him, “I say not unto thee, until seven times: but until seventy times seven.” Matthew 18:21

“Jesus Christ!!!!” Exactly! Seventy times seven! Four hundred and ninety times!! That seems like a lot and not nearly enough, all at the same time. I have a few people who are dangerously close to that number already. I’m probably on the border with a few as well.

This lesson actually goes along with the “Turn the other cheek” lesson. To “turn the other cheek” is to look differently at the offender and see him correctly. That is what forgiveness is. It is to look at the situation differently and see what is actually happening, instead of what seems to be happening.

70 x 7 = 490. In that many times there is a lot of opportunity to see differently. Hopefully it won’t take that many times. Usually, once a person or situation is seen correctly, there is no reason to continue with the same paradigm. It is a wonderful way of applying our spirituality practically.

This week, look at all the situations in which you are still disgruntled and ask God if there is another way to see them. Let’s set a plan to never need to forgive again. I know that is a lofty goal but what else do we have to do?

Love,
Shawn

Hello Fellow Truth Students,

There is that wonderful song that states, “I can see clearly now, the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way.” My first question is, “In my way of what?” The answer is: AWAKENING TO WHAT IS. So, the songwriter is saying that because the “rain” is gone, he can now see the obstacles in the way of his seeing WHAT IS.

In my past and in my present there have been, and are, many seeming obstacles in the way of seeing WHAT IS. It always comes down to thoughts. It is our thoughts about ourselves and events in our lives that are our obstacle to seeing clearly. Our thoughts lead to the mental and physical manifestation of obstacles. My thoughts that I wasn’t enough and that I would look and feel “cooler” doing so, led to a longtime smoking habit. Once I cleared away the ‘rain’ of my thoughts that ‘I wasn’t enough as I AM,’ I could see the obstacle that smoking had become to living the spiritual life that I longed for. It was my thought that I needed to perceive myself (or have others perceive me) a certain way that led to the blocking of having the very thing I wanted the most. I didn’t need to be seen as “cool.” I needed to love God, and in loving God I loved myself.

I want to be very clear on this last point. Loving God isn’t the same thing as loving the concept of God, or loving talking about God, and especially, it isn’t about loving religion. Loving God is about desiring peace more than desiring chaos. Loving God is about desiring love more than resentment or being “right”. Loving God is about desiring Truth more than guilt or fear. I had to look at that word “desire” and realize that I must be desiring some of these insane conditions or I wouldn’t experience them so frequently. That is another part of seeing clearly.

Desire seeing clearly. Desire the Truth. Trust that Truth will set you free from doubt. Truth is the same as seeing clearly. Truth sets us free to experience Power, Peace, Wisdom, Love, Truth, and Clarity. Acceptance of Truth lets us see clearly that God is Good, and so are you and me.

This week, ask Spirit to tell you the Truth about everything. Refuse to make up a story that doesn’t leave you peaceful. Refuse to make up a story that tells you that God, you, or me is less than Absolute Good. Insist that you see your body clearly. Insist that you see your relationships clearly. Insist that you see your money clearly. Insist that you see your home clearly. Insist that you see your world clearly. Insist that you see it NOW!

In the Divine Presence of Now,

Shawn

Hello Fellow Truth Students,

Happy New Year! Have you maintained the clean slate that we cleared away on New Year’s Day or have you picked up some grievances already? Either way is fine. God doesn’t have any grievances, so any that you or I experience won’t (can’t) last. Since they can’t last, there is no point in struggling to justify and hang on to them.

You may have to clear your slate daily. Each day look at your thoughts about everyone and everything. If you aren’t experiencing peace, when any image comes to mind become willing, instantly, to have the truth about it revealed to you from within. If you have offended anyone, become willing— instantly—to be forgiven, and know that you will say or do the right thing to clear away the grievance.

How do you and I know that we will say and do the right thing? Because we will first ask Spirit within us for the right thoughts. Then we will ask if there is anything to say or do that is appropriate to the situation. Remember, it is peace we are seeking to experience here, not evasion.

When I say that we will ask Spirit within us, it is the same as asking the highest KNOWING within us. It is asking God or the Christ Mind within. Become willing to ask your HIGHEST KNOWING about everything. It is within us to KNOW the TRUTH all the time, and it’s revealed to us when we’re willing to ask and to listen. Rest assured that we never need to figure anything out. It is already “figured out”. It just takes our willingness to hear the Voice of Love and actively follow through.

Congratulations to all of us for our willingness to move closer to heaven, and for our willingness to experience the Presence of God in every aspect of life. Nothing is too big or too small to experience the Love of God!

In Sharing a Clean Slate,
Shawn

Happy New Year,
“Preparation For a Clean Slate for a New Year” (A Holy Invitation)

Imagine that all was forgiven by you and for you! Remember, in God nothing was ever judged. It really would be a splendid NEW YEAR’s DAY, wouldn’t it?

This coming Sunday, New Year’s Day, we are having our annual Burning Bowl Celebration Service where we will be doing just that. We are cleaning the slate of all past errors and grievances. We will write down on a piece of paper every person/situation/institution/event from our past (where else would they be?) that we feel we need to forgive (or see correctly.) Next, we will write down the name of all whom we want to forgive us (see us correctly.) Finally, we will write down the adjectives that we habitually use that inaccurately describe people/places/situations/events we experience.

The preparation will be to bring all of the names and adjectives with you for the “cleaning” process. Sometimes it is difficult to think of them all on the spur of the moment. Bring with you all of your past so that you may surrender any and all false meaning. Bring with you all of those drivers on the roads that frustrate you. Bring any thoughts about your parents and children that don’t give you peace. Bring thoughts about your employers or employees that you have been seeing through eyes that are less than Christ-like. Bring any and all guilt, shame or humiliation about yourself that you need to clear away. For those of you who need to, bring any thoughts about me that are keeping you from the joy that is naturally yours to experience. Let’s have a clean slate for the New Year. Let’s let ourselves and everyone off the hook so that we can be at peace. Let’s decide that we don’t know exactly what happened, and realize that we only thought we knew what happened.

That brings us to the next part of our preparation. Let’s release all of the dramatic adjectives that are clouding our thinking and inaccurately describing our lives. Let’s renounce phrases like “I wanted to kill myself.” “She’s / He’s terrible!” “I hate that!” “That’s a bunch of #$%*&*!” “It was bad!” “I’m broke!” “I don’t have any money!” “I have to figure it out!” “God dammit!” And all the others.

We’re going to put them all on paper with gratitude that these people, situations and words have gotten us this far and we are now ready to let them go. We are now ready for a clean slate where the true meaning of life is revealed and we may live prosperously and be at peace with what IS, instead of in chaos with what isn’t.

Join us Sunday morning, New Year’s Day. We are going to do this together. Invite everyone you know who might benefit from this process. All are welcome. If it is truly meant to be a clean slate, I especially encourage those who haven’t been here in a while because they have felt offended here. I invite everyone who wants Peace, and Joy, and Love, and Wisdom, and anything else that is their rightful inheritance from God.

Gang, I am starting my process of a clean slate now. I want the truth of all revealed to me by God and Holy Spirit, so that I would never confuse myself or anyone else as being less than God-Being again.

Thank You for Saying Yes to Your Holy Journey,
Shawn

Hello Fellow Truth Students!

In Unity, we define “The Christ” as the perfect Word or Idea of God, which unfolds into the true Man and is blessed with eternal life by measuring up to the divine standard. (Revealing Word) We consider Jesus the man who represents the highest individual expression of the Christ Idea. The birth of Christ within is what will save mankind from ignorance, sickness and death.

We can use this season as a reminder that Christ (the divine Idea of Man) can be born into each and every one of us, at any moment, on any given day, when we recognize our real nature. This way we can see that the true Christmas celebration isn’t about a baby that was born long ago—it is a time of gratitude for a sacred being who embraced the divine Idea and reminded us that it’s possible for each of us to embrace this same divine Idea and thus know the divinity within each and every one.

Think about it for a moment. Say to yourself, “I AM a divine Idea of God!” Then say, “As a manifestation of the divine Idea, I do not participate in ignorance, sickness, and death.” Then remember, “As a manifestation of the divine Idea I am healthy, whole and filled with the wisdom that God IS!” Finally exclaim, “THE CHRIST IN ME IS AWAKE NOW! YEAY!!”

In Christ Recognition,
Shawn

Hello Fellow Truth Students

Back in May I wrote a letter titled “Agree With God”. Now we are on the topic again. Imagine that God is saying “________________ is Good!” (Place your name on the line.) Say it with God, “_____________ is Good!”

Now imagine that God is saying, “___________________ is rich!” (Place your name on the line.) Say it with God, “_______________ is rich!” Hear God say, “_____________ is loved all of the time.” Say it with God, “_______________ is loved all of the time.” Agree with God about yourself. Agree and agree quickly.

Next, move on to what might be a tougher challenge. Hear God saying, “_________________ is Good!” (Place the name of someone you don’t care for on the line.) Now, say it with God, “_______________ is Good!” It is especially important to agree with God quickly about this. You don’t want that kind of disagreement to fester in your thinking. Advance it even further by being willing to hear God say, “_____________ is rich, whole, healthy and has a lot of friends who love him/her!” Say it with God. SAY IT!!! “______________________ is rich, whole, healthy and has a lot of friends who love him/her!”

Agree with God all of the time. It is a sure path to peace.

Love and Peace to You,
Shawn

Hello Fellow Truth Students,

In the book, Dynamics for Living, Charles Fillmore reminds us, “…God, the unlimited fount of LIFE, HEALTH, LIGHT, and LOVE. God IS the health of his people.” When I came into Unity, I realized that God IS my health! God IS my wisdom! God IS my wealth! God IS my Good! God IS my very nature. God IS what I AM! If that is the case, and it is, then I must be what God IS. I AM WHAT GOD IS! What a relief! I AM WHAT GOD IS!!! I can’t say it enough.

Unity’s cofounder, Myrtle Fillmore, wrote of her journey to healing and the realization of Oneness, “…In the midst of all this gloom, we kept looking for the way out, which we felt sure would be revealed. It was! The light of God revealed to us—the thought came to me first—that life was of God, that we were inseparably one with the Source, and that we inherited from the divine and perfect Father.
What that revelation did to me at first was not apparent to the senses. But it held my mind above negation, and I began to claim my birthright and to act as though I believed myself the child of God, filled with His life…”

No matter where you are in your journey; no matter how dark the path or how Light filled your vision, take the time right now to remember that you are one with God, just as everyone is. You don’t have to believe it right now, but you can still have the thought. “I AM One with God. I AM all that God IS and God is what I actually AM!”

I AM So Glad That Truth Is True,
Shawn

Hello Fellow Truth Students,

I Thess 5: [11] Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up,
just as you are doing.
[12] But we beseech you, brethren, to respect those who labor among you
and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,
[13] And to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.
Be at peace among yourselves.
[14] And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted,
help the weak, be patient with them all.
[15] See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good
to one another and to all.
[16] Rejoice always,
[17] Pray constantly,
[18] Give thanks in all circumstances.
[19] Do not quench the Spirit,
[20] Do not despise prophesying,
[21] But test everything; hold fast what is good,
[22] Abstain from every form of evil.
[23] May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly;
and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless.

This is a wonderful teaching from I Thessalonians that tells us to give thanks for all things–not just some of them, but ALL of them: “Give thanks in all circumstances.” There is a very practical reason for giving thanks for all things: we don’t know which one is the one that can awaken us. If I’m busy holding a grudge, I’m not awakening. If I’m accusing others of withholding my good, I’m delaying my awakening.

When I say, “Thank you” to myself and everyone else, I am awakening. When I offer thanks to myself for being in this particular situation at this particular time, I am awakening. Not only that, I am saying ‘yes’ to my good. Plus, I’m saying “Yes, I AM Good!”

Each day, when you awaken, say, “Thank you for today.” Each night, as you go to bed, say, “Thank you for today.” Live in the blissful awareness that somehow all is Good.

In Grateful Blessing For You In My Life,
Shawn