Where the Passion of the Heart
Meets the Wisdom of the One Spirit in us all
FEBRUARY’S THEME: NON-VIOLENCE
Aloha Precious Creation of Life,
I
love, honor and appreciate the beautiful reflection of God that you
are. Sometimes we find it easier to see others’ beauty and perfection
than to see it in ourselves. In January I wrote that when we are
critical of ourselves, we are dishonoring a precious part of God. We
are purer vessels for God’s healing love to pour through us to others
when we love and cherish ourselves.
On
January 30 the 13th Annual Season for Non-Violence began. I started
thinking about the importance of being non-violent towards ourselves.
Here’s the Daily Reflection from Day 4:
DAY
4 Feb. 2: The thought for today is CARING. According to Peter
McWilliams “Nonviolence toward the self is caring for oneself. Self
love is a crowning sense of self worth; it is what the Greeks call
reverence for the self.”
When
I regard my life as a trust, I realize that the first resource I have
to take care of is my own body. This can be startling! Even my body
is not really my own - it belongs to life, and it is my responsibility
to take care of it. Taking care of it is a demonstration of
nonviolence.
Today:
I will make a list of at least five ways that I can take care of
myself, physically and/or mentally, and I will honor that list today
through demonstration.
Season
for Non-Violence has a daily reflection for each of the 64 days through
April 3. Google “Season for Non-Violence” or visit
agnt.org/snv2010/64days/DailyReflections.
In
this month dedicated to Love and lovers, try being a little kinder to
yourself and notice how much more peaceful your world becomes.
Particularly try sending your love to those that you find hard to love
or to see them as God’s creation. As Peace Pilgrim wrote years ago:
The pure love of a few really dedicated people can offset the
ill-effects of masses of out-of-harmony people, so we who work for
peace must not falter.
With love and gratitude,
Rev. Patri Hildreth
~ ~ ~
JANUARY THEME: CONNECTION
A Joyous New Year to you,
I
have so much to share with you from my life-changing experience of
attending the Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne, Australia in
early December. I am now truly a citizen of the world after meeting
and sharing with people from so many countries and different faiths,
all dedicated to making the world a better place. I will have to write
a separate piece just on the Parliament. One of the highlights was
getting to sing with the Agape International choir from Dr. Michael
Beckwith’s church. Only 20 of their 200 members attended so we were
invited to join them. I think our two musical performances really gave
the attendees a great idea of what New Thought is.
In
2009 my one word focus was Connection and I ended the year with the
greatest gift I could give myself—a greater awareness of Spirit’s
Loving Presence. Here are 3 insights that I have embodied more
completely. May they free you as they have freed me.
1) A God-centered life, refusing to judge by appearances, is the only
way to peace and freedom. I cannot live in two worlds as I
harmonize with that which I describe.
2) Praising all the time is seeing God/Good everywhere. Praising
in advance for the good we desire is particularly powerful.
Praise the good in our loved ones and praise the qualities
we’d like to see more of and we will see them.
(Examples: Praise God, I am healed in spirit, mind and body.
Praise God, I healed of all self-judgment. Praise God, I
no longer judge by appearances. Praise God, I am in my
right place, doing that which is mine to do. Share some of
your praises with me.)
3) When we are critical of ourselves, we are dishonoring a precious
part of God. We are purer vessels for God’s healing love to pour
through us to others when we love and cherish ourselves.
My
focus for 2010 is Passion. I love the play on it: Pass-I-On. The
more we experience our spiritual nature, the more light, love and peace
we bring to the world. We’re focusing
on World Peace more at our services and I will get some of those prayers on the website. I include two short ones below.
My
heart if filled with gratitude for the opportunity to pass on the
Truths that continually set me free. May 2010 be a year of homecoming
to your true, beautiful, glorious God Self.
With love and prayers for your happiness,
Rev. Patri Hildreth
~ ~ ~
DECEMBER THEME: WONDER
Happy Holidays,
How
thankful I am for wonder-full you! I write this on Thanksgiving
morning just before leaving for the airport. I will be attending the
Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne, Australia with over 8,000
people from December 2-9. This year marks the first time all New
Thought organizations have come together to have 1,000 attending the
parliament. I’ll have much to share with you on December 13, the first
Sunday I am back.
We
have two great Truth students who will be speaking on the 29th and
6th: Katherine Kane, RScP and Dan Del Negro. See information on their
talks and them elsewhere on the website.
On
December 13th I will speak on “The Wonder Child” and Rev. Allan will
help us celebrate a mini-candle lighting service for all those that
might be traveling. Our 6th annual candle lighting service will be
held on the 20th at our 11 AM service with sharing Christmas goodies
afterward. On the 27th we’ll have our annual Burning Bowl ceremony as
we release 2009 and set our intentions for 2010.
Have a blessed and joyous holiday season. You are in my heart always.
In Joy, Wonder, and Appreciation,
Rev. Patri Hildreth
~ ~ ~
NOVEMBER THEME: THANKFULNESS
How Thankful I am for you!
As
I have said many times from the pulpit, the greatest gift of founding
this church (besides all the wonderful people I have met) is the
tremendous spiritual growth IT
--as in
God as my Divine Self—has required of me. I am so thankful to be at
this place of knowing more deeply than ever who I am as a spiritual
being. WOW! Now that I see myself more clearly, I see your
magnificence even more greatly. Bless you for being in my life!!!
I
am so thankful for all the insights I have gotten as I have facilitated
our current class on The Power of Decision. After 31 years of Science
of Mind classes I feel like I am new student again as I am hearing Dr.
Barker on a deeper level than ever before. So many statements are
jumping out at me and have been life-changing: Here’s a couple:
All improvement is dependent upon you seeing yourself as being
greater than you are - p. 8
The feeling that it is great to be alive is a spiritual necessity. – p. 75
Throughout
the book I am being reminded of the power of giving clear direction to
our subconscious mind of the patterns and habits we are ready to be
finished running. Enthusiasm about life and expectancy of greater
good—being excited about life and living are essential to our
spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health. I am more excited
about life than I have ever been. Praise God for bringing me home!
I
am so grateful and thankful to have the opportunity to teach and share
these Truths that continually set me free. Thanks for being part of
the journey. At the end of the month I travel to Melbourne, Australia
to attend the World Parliament of Religions as part of the largest New
Thought contingency to ever attend. I am definitely excited about
that. Have a super month, focusing on all you have to be thankful for.
With a thankful heart,
Rev. Patri Hildreth
~ ~ ~
OCTOBER THEME: INTEGRITY
Aloha Precious Incarnation of the Divine,
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. --Emerson
So
many times we get stuck in living life as a series of problems to be
solved. While it is true that we have challenges, we must not lose
sight of the preciousness of our lives as incarnations of the Divine.
Let’s look at everything we face as an opportunity to awaken and see
life from our spiritual nature. The spiritual perspective, living life
with self-integrity, changes everything. The rest of Emerson’s quote
tells us how to do that:
Who so would be a man [a whole person], must be a non-conformist.
He/[she] who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by
the name of goodness, but explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last
sacred but the integrity of your own mind.
In
line with October’s theme of Integrity, we will explore being true to
our “better natures”—our unlimited spiritual natures and look at all
the places where we are out of integrity with ourselves. At our
fun-filled Halloween service, the song “Real” is always sung. It’s
about dropping our masks and being real. While it is fun to wear
masks on that day, our whole teaching is about being authentic and
living true to the best in us. Our current classes on the classic,
Power of Decision, supports us in making decisions that support the
best in us.
Honoring you as you are true to your Self,
Rev. Patri Hildreth
~ ~ ~
September 27, 2009: Spirit or Form--What's Your Decision?
Our natural nature is to research when we have a problem we want to
solve. However, when we study form and get informed we get more
attached to the form or the appearances. When we study Spirit, we get
inspired so it behooves us to go within first and wait on Spirit's
guidance first.
Spirit's inspiration leads us to creative answers and creative
expression. It's our decision whether we want to focus on the spiritual
Truth of ourselves and any situation or give our power to appearances
and try to fix it ourselves. When we do the latter, we often get more
stuck in the problem.
Our Music Director, Dan Del Negro, is a great example of what I mean.
He says that is often feels like he is the scribe for Spirit when the
songs flow out of him. Dan is just back from a New Thought Musician
conference at Unity Village and will share briefly about his experience.
On the last Sunday after service we have a discussion on the month's
theme. We will share about our progress and insights on September's
theme of Decision.
Rev. Patri Hildreth
~ ~ ~
JULY THEME: LIBERTY
Aloha Unlimited One,
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
Whether
we feel unlimited or bound, this is what I have learned. It’s usually
been the experiences where I have felt the most limited and
“imprisoned” so to speak that have urged me home to a greater awareness
of my true freedom as a spiritual being.
Today
I began celebrating Independence Day early. It’s the first time that I
swam in the ocean since Labor Day. As most of you know, I broke my
ankle last September and getting my strength and balance back enough to
get past the breakers has taken it’s time.
Being
immobilized for so long gave me plenty of time to connect with Spirit
and tap into a liberty that is not affected by outer conditions.
Wherever
we are, feeling liberated or limited, our Divine essence is always
free. Embrace and call forth the good in every situation, knowing
within it is the key to freedom.
Join
us this month as we explore ideas from one of the most empowering books
I have ever read, Spiritual Liberation, Fulfilling Your Soul’s
Potential, by Michael Beckwith.
Celebrating our Free, Unlimited Spirits,
Rev. Patri Hildreth
~ ~ ~
MAY THEME: WEALTH
Aloha Divine Treasures,
Yes,
that is exactly what we are, but many of us discount (or have
discounted in the past) all the wonderful, intangible qualities that
are our wealth and spiritual capital. The challenges I had with the
seeming lack of prosperity didn’t end until I began valuing myself and
really knowing my worth apart from anything outside of me.
I
am so glad I am a Religious Scientist and know the teaching of Only One
Power regardless of appearances. My heart goes out to everyone
experiencing challenges related to the economy AND I see each one
triumphing and coming home to the Inner Wealth that is not diminished
by outer circumstances. When we know this, we are unstoppable and can
give the gift that is ours to give in a much larger way.
All
of these themes and more will be covered this month as I share from the
book, Soul Currency, Investing your Inner Wealth for Fulfillmet &
Abundance. The author, Rev. Ernie Chu, will be speak, May 24th , and
give a 2 hour workshop. We will also be forming book study groups so
let us know if you’re interested in participating.
Our
organization, International Centers for Spiritual Living-ICSL, is
taking the wealth of the Science of Mind teaching out into the world in
a big way this summer with our first conference away from the
Asilomar. It’s entitled, New Thought, New World, and will be in San
Diego with keynote speakers Carolyn Myss and Byron Katie. Add your
energy to this event in person or in consciousness as we step out and
share with the world.. Check out the promotional video at _________ and
get inspired.
I know this month we increase our awareness of our Unlimited Inner Wealth!
Abundant Blessings,
Rev. Patri
~ ~ ~
Aloha Unlimited One
Where the Passion of the Heart
Meets the Wisdom of the One Spirit in us all
