2009 Resolved...

Postponed from mid-December due to three feet of unexpected snow, we finally held the Candlelighting service on Sunday, January 4th in the morning, in lieu of the regular Sunday service (saving me from having to give a sermon!) I intended to light the candle of Faith, upon recommendation from a close friend, since I've been struggling with both career and relationship issues this year just past (would Faith have any help there?) But, during the description of the various powers, I became drawn to Understanding. I actually lit that one and the one next to it, Judgment, and then Zeal and Life on a whim.

Of course, there's nothing magical to me about lighting the candle (actually, the candles are lit, and we light our small candle from the appropriate lit power.) I think, for me, that the power chosen allows me to set an intention for the year. Having the ritual in January was just as powerful as having it in December, and perhaps even a bit more apropos, except for the fact that all of the music we rehearsed so intently, and performed that morning, was Christmas music - Silent Night, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, The Twelve Days of Christmas, O Little Town of Bethlehem, etc... A bit of a flashback, especially since we were hit with snow, again, after the first bit had melted away on the 2nd.

So, what powers speak to you in this year of 2009?


THE TWELVE POWERS

Faith: Ability to say "Yes" to any good thing and have it happen; draws my good from the invisible to the visible

Strength: Ability to be still and hold my center when I am in chaos; allows me to stick with Divine Ideas

Love: Ability to see and know all as one; ability to desire that only good come to all

Power: Ability to change and build consciousness; to choose my thoughts and feelings

Imagination: Ability to give shape and form to unformed mental energy; vision beyond appearances

Understanding: Ability to know that God stands under all things; knowing how to accomplish; knowing in my own heart

Judgment: Ability to discern, evaluate, and make decisions; allowing Divine Wisdom to flow through me

Will: Ability to be willing to say "Yes" to God; always seeking the good for all

Order: Ability to develop consciousness in proper sequence: mind, body and affairs

Zeal: Ability to move forward through spiritual motivation; results in enthusiasm and joy

Renunciation: Ability to give a "No" response in or to the untrue and undesirable; helps me eliminate errors

Life: Ability to mend, restore, and draw upon the living Christ within us for all functions

The Power of Strength

Strength: Ability to be still and hold my center when I am in chaos; allows me to stick with Divine Ideas.

Your success, however you define it, is just one idea away. Creative Spirit, God, Divine Order, whatever you believe to be a higher power in your life, feeds you with Divine Ideas. Are you listening? Are you acting on these Divine Ideas? Do you have the strength to choose a course of action and stick with it?

Your center is the Christ within you. That consciousness sees the order in a raging storm, the order in a community of people, and the Divine Order of the Universe. Chaos is a micro-view that we take of certain events in our lives, and it is a way that we treat ourselves. We sometimes choose to see ourselves in chaos, by letting our thoughts run rampant and out of control.

When we pray for strength, we are praying to be calm, to be the eye of the storm, to know that everything is fundamentally in order.

True strength lies in living in the very moment, not in the past and not in the future. The mistake we often make is that we live, not in the present where all things are possible, but in the moments just past. We see ourselves as broke, tired, sick and lonely, when those states of being are simply the culmination of all we have thought in the past.

Think of this: each word you read, as you move along the page, moves from the present to the past with each moment. The next word, just like the next moment of your life, is undetermined. You create each next moment based on the thoughts you are holding right now, in this moment. Want to change your life? Change your thoughts - right now. Find something, a dream, a purpose, an ambition, and then stick to it. Choose something that lights a fire within your heart. Choose something that provides peace, joy and abundance for all people.

As Neale Donald Walsh says, "There is no blackboard in the sky with your purpose written on it. Your purpose is what you say it is. Your mission is the mission you give yourself. Your life is what you create it to be.

Find your passion, focus your thoughts, be still within your center and know that all is well.