JANUARY, 2011: THE DANCE OF LIFE

I used some of my time while on a two week cruise to the Hawaiian Islands to deepen my sense of uninterrupted oneness with God. Being physically removed from my familiar home routine and surroundings generally tends to evoke new thoughts, feelings and personal insights...of course, what is then required is a willingness to let the discoveries occur. Here's what I gleaned. I can easily be withdrawn and "shy" when surrounded by a huge array of new people, a broader focus on the material side of life and less general interest in spiritual causes. In other words I'm out of my usual element...separated from my usual metaphysical "birds of a feather." What then can become my human tendency? Reclusiveness. I Am comfortable enough in my own skin, to "take to my cabin" and to be perfectly fine with that. Does that stir me to personal growth? No! So I shoot for a greater idea.

This component of deepening came through my love of ballroom dancing. Since more than half of the cruise was composed of days at sea and since that provided several hours of daily and nightly dance classes and dancing, I was often reminded of the imperative to give up any sense of human inadequacy and preoccupation with how I looked and how my performance appeared to others. Instead the inner call was to embrace the freedom of my oneness with the Divine and to trust it to take me where no amount of defensive, intellectualizing ever can lead me. How did I bring myself to that place of inseparable unity? Spiritual Mind Treatment, my dear ones, Affirmative Prayer, Scientific Prayer, conscious awareness that God Is, I Am! We have such a readily available and accessible way out of any and all human dilemmas...and as the wise ones of all ages have said, the way in, is the only way out!

I more consistently gave up human self consciousness for the greater love I feel when music is playing, when I position myself in my dance frame, enter my partner's arms, when I listen, when I look into the eyes facing me and follow the lead...ah, blissful indeed...I meld, fuse, merge with the music, the beat, the specific dance calling me to move and to the partner who, in their own beautiful way is also surrendering to that certain something within.,,departing from otherness and fully entering into oneness...and so the dance with the Life Divine begins and all that follows is Divine Grace, ease, harmony and bliss. This to me personifies what it mean to be one with the flow of Life.

Now as if that experience isn't enough incentive for building an interior foundation of wholeness, get this...one of the dancing partners...there were six "Ambassador, Dancing Hosts" aboard...my favorite and most exquisite dancer of the group, was revealed in due course as having studied for the Science of Mind Ministry, with my beloved teacher...Dr. Tom Johnson.

You tell me...Is there One Life, is it Perfect, Elegant, Exquisite...and does it infallibly know what It's doing...or what?

AWARENESS CONTEMPLATION:
Take a few moments upon awakening each morning, to look around you and see what you think you're looking at. Include in your scanning of your physical environment, the feelings and thoughts you are entertaining along with this review. Feelings can range from boredom, "Another day, another dollar," drearily contemplating the "to do" list for the day...in other words, be aware...how would you describe your body, thoughts and feelings...what is your predominant state of being? From that you can make another choice, perhaps one that lends itself to a more spiritually positive experience of all inclusive gratitude, exhilaration for breathing in another sacred day of Life, the excitement of claiming new, refreshing opportunities to embrace the Infinite through your finiteness.

AFFIRMATIVE PRAYER:
And, so, as I look around my physical world, I gratefully acknowledge that it looks the way I feel inside. Therefore, I feel good...I feel God's Divine Presence stirring me awake to new ways in which to live, love and learn more about this thing called me. I consciously decide to place myself in oneness with the creative flow of life. I decree and declare my deep appreciation for the Infinite Intelligence of the Law of Life, motivated and moved by the Power of Love. This is what takes me to places of constant discovery of being in tune with the Dance of the Divine as I move through the seeming mundane ordinariness of my human life. I Am that which sees a new picture of radiant aliveness, light, joy and creative fulfillment which I accept as my day by day experience of the ways in which I free Spirit to have its way through and as me. I Am so appreciative that I awaken to the majesty and unlimited potential of my true spiritual nature and that I free it into expression...day by day, in ever greater ways. I trust and I know this is the way it really is, for which I give thanks and so be it!