MY FIVE STAGES OF TRANSITION

In September 1985, I left my home in Southern California and my three grown children and headed up to Edmonton, Alberta to start the First Church of Religious Science. My calm acceptance of the Divine rightness, although complete illogic of what I was embarking on seemed ‘out of mind’ and even ‘out of body.’ It simply was something that had to be experienced and by me. Let’s call that Transitional Stage One.

After ten years in Edmonton, during which we manifested our own church facility and Religious Science International Licensed our Religious Science Practitioners and Ministers, I felt complete and I knew it was time to ‘call it a wrap.’ Not the easiest move to make, but then arriving there in the first place, wasn’t either. I left feeling the bitter/sweetness of the deeply enriching and growing experience…knowing I was stretched and changed forever. Transitional Stage Two was about to evolve into…

Transitional Stage Three. At the time, the Honolulu Church of Religious Science required an Interim Minister, so February 1996 found me aloha bound, where I was Interim Minister for three months. I felt completely at home. I taught, spoke, did Board Meetings, counseled and stayed for three months, when happily Rev. Frank White returned and I reluctantly left lovely Oahu. Transitional Stage Four emerged a few shorts months later when I was installed as Sr. Minister at the Center for Spiritual Living, Westlake Village, CA in June of 1996. After thirteen magnificent years, I knew it was time to do ministry in a new way, which brings me to…

Transitional and Current Stage Five.
These last six years have been about doing ministry without ministry ‘doing me.’ What I want to convey is that for me, Science of Mind’s Spiritual Mind Treatment is the beginning, the middle and the end of the story. Along with meditation and the full spectrum of consistent spiritual practice, it is no longer an occasional drop-in visitation; spiritual practice becomes the same insistent, non-negociable, interior impulse which steered me up to Canada thirty years ago.

We teach that change is the nature of Life, that we are here to be change agents, that we either embrace the new or gradually drift downhill. So how come, change is not always gracefully and joyfully entered into? In my case, when day by day ministry as I had known it, came to a close, I found myself in the throws of an ‘identity crisis.’ It was all well and good to know that God Is, I Am…but that temporarily didn’t quiet or calm the interminable question of, “What do I do now?” I went into an extended period of urgently looking to fill the emptiness with everything and anything that quieted the longing to return to my routine, to my congregation, my daily ministerial dreams and schemes…to my ‘peeps!’

My prayer partner stopped me in my tracks one day, by asking the simple question, “What do you really and truly want to do with your life from now on?” My answer was immediate. I wanted to continue speaking, teaching, counseling, mentoring, facilitating workshops and seminars. I wanted to be in service to the NOW greater idea of God as me, through sharing Science of Mind principles with others! And, so…I came home. Home to what Dr. Ernest Holmes had instructed: “Treat until you get results!” And, that remains my story. I Am honored, privileged and delighted to share with Centers for Spiritual Living and other spiritual communities up and down the coast of Southern California, as well as elsewhere…and I don’t need to call a Staff Meeting on Monday morning. I Am planning my trip to Edmonton next month, to celebrate our mutual Thirty Year Anniversary Celebration. At this point, I stand in awe of the consciousness of God I and all others can choose to embrace. Life is everything and more than we dream it can be.

So, this one’s for anyone who isn’t quite certain where they go from here. Go into your closet of Self, close the door, and ask into Mind what it is that is now yours to do…and in a most fulfilling and dynamically creative fashion. Ask with sincerity and with a deep understanding of the Law of Mind Action which responds by corresponding. Have some spiffy new clothes ready to go…dress up/suit up and show up! The Divine in you, as you, for you…is ready whenever you are! I am convinced that Transitional Stage Six and all that follow produce greater and ever more magnificent experiences for myself and all! And, that’s the way it really is.

Much love and many blessings,
Dr. Sue

* REMINDER: To explore more ideas on this topic, as they personally relate to your life, e-mail me at: revsue@verizon.net.