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December 28, 2014 – The Journey

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12/28/14 Sheila Gautreaux, L.U.T.
The Journey

This year I spoke about the parable of the Prodigal Son. It’s about the long journey from the head to the heart, and the journey to forgiveness. Our heavenly father has never held anything against us. I spoke of the parable of the Sower. It’s about the words of truth we hear. Some words of truth we hear and apply in our lives, and then the old stuff no longer has power over us. The third parable was about the Weeds that grew in the crop of wheat. Negative beliefs will come up, but don’t fight them. When your truth is strong you will be able to ignore the “weeds”. These parables clear away the darkness so our light can shine.

Then we talked about Transitions, tragic changes like the loss of a spouse, a home, a job. It’s like a death. It’s Endings. You’re disengaged. You are no longer the person who has what is now lost. You’re angry and disoriented. Then, in the Void, you’re just lost. It is painful, and you take this journey alone. And you’re not out until the message from all this is received—like who am I or what am I to do? Pray, “Come Holy Spirit.” (Holy Spirit is the movement of God.) Finally, you get to the New Beginning—you see a glimmer of light, of hope. You recognize you’re in transition. Then all resources of God show up for you. It’s like the journey of the Israelites in the wilderness, still thinking as slaves. But when you’re in bondage to something you still have the ability to say “Let my people go.”

Then a few weeks ago I spoke of the ADVENTture beginning. During Advent millions of people are excitedly awaiting an arrival. The “soil” is fertile for planting whatever we want to come into our lives. Reflect on the previous year without judgment. What worked, what didn’t. Ask, how did or didn’t I show up? As God? Or not? Then paint the picture of how you want the new year to look. List goals for getting there. Then add “by when” dates, which spur you into action. If you miss a date, simply set another. Be good to yourself. Eat the elephant one bite at a time. Set smaller goals which together make a big one. Then fully imagine this new life—all the way into each of your 150 trillion cells. They will be energized and draw these things to you. Expect it to happen. I expect it to happen! I expect it to happen! I expect it to happen! The universe will bring it! Go forward enthusiastically! Pray Yes! Go ahead, feel the doubt and fear but affirm your good. Clear away those things which no longer serve. That which we are attached to keeps our attention and there is no room for the new. Say, I move forward enthusiastically toward unlimited possibilities. I move forward enthusiastically toward unlimited possibilities. I move forward enthusiastically toward unlimited possibilities. Go get ’em!

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December 21, 2014 – The Christmas Awakening

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12/14/14  Rev. David McArthur

The Christmas Awakening

This year my granddaughter explained our nativity scene to me. It was made in Montana with figures based on ranchers, native Americans and oilmen. I learned that they wore heavy clothing because the baby Jesus was born at the North Pole! Christmas is a little different each year as our awareness grows. As a child it’s the first time there is something beyond our parents we could ask directly and it would respond to us. What a wonderful beginning of the God thought for a child!

11 year old Susie’s letter to Santa spoke of her younger siblings and that her father had died that year and how her mother was sick. But all she asked was could Santa bring a blanket for her mother who was very cold at night. It was not what you’d expect.

A member here told how she had moved to a new town and didn’t know anyone. She had 2 daughters but no money for Christmas or even for food. No one to go to. Nobody even knew her plight. Yet there was a knock on the door. A big box had come. There was food. There were toys, and clothes. Whenever you think no one knows, there is always an awareness. A change of awareness is all it’s about. An awakening of consciousness.

The Christmas story in the gospel of John speaks of the light of each one of us, the very life in us, which brings forth the consciousness in each one of us. In our 3-D state we have to grow in awareness. John speaks of belief, but it is not “I think so” or “I’m convinced” belief. It is the embodiment of what you are, the reality you live. And “name” here isn’t what you are called, it is the nature of your being. So “to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”. It is the awakening to the awareness that we are children of God. It is not a religious thing, it is our nature.

As a Jewish boy, Jay Frankston, didn’t get to do Christmas. But when he had kids of his own, he did it big! One day he watched a mother help her little girl mail a letter to Santa. He wondered where those letters went. At the central post office he was given many, most of which were just lists of toys wanted. But he found Susie’s! And 7 others like hers from children who were afraid, or lonely, or felt forgotten. On Christmas Day he dressed as Santa and took Susie’s mom a blanket, and toys for Susie and her brothers and sister. He went to each of the 8 homes with presents for all. How the Santa experience changes when you become a parent! The next year he went to 20 homes, the year after that it was 120 homes. He did this for 12 years, the embodiment of love. It wasn’t religious.

It’s what it’s all about and it is not difficult. It is who we are. It is our nature. We’re the embodiment of love. I invite you to love the season and to give love this season. The gifts are just an excuse to give love. Give love without gifts. To people you don’t know give love. This special week the whole world is in the consciousness of love. I give love this Christmas. Say it again, I give love this Christmas. I give love this Christmas. And stop and be aware of all the love given you. Bless you!

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December 14, 2014 – How To Talk With An Angel

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12/14/14 Rev. David McArthur
How To Talk With An Angel

When you really want something it can take quite a bit of work and it’s hard to wait. With all that’s happening right now in life, what I wanted this Christmas was clarity on what I’m to do. It’s embarrassing to teach seeking guidance for answers when I still have questions myself. I wanted what Mary got—an angel that came to her with clarity, in detail, as to what she was to do. I wanted my own angel experience. I’ve gotten a whole lot of guidance through many things, why not for this? When something’s this important, I set aside some time for it.

So I reserved a cabin off in the woods, California style (with majestic redwoods and all the amenities including a hot tub), for just me. For a greater understanding of life I would need a new consciousness. I needed to let go of things I still carried within that limited my going forward. The only one who puts limits on me is me. So I found those places within that weren’t ok and brought my love to them. That is what heals. It was beautiful.

Then it was time to ask, “If I could have that angel, what would I ask?” Often we ask the wrong question. I knew my heart’s desire could be fulfilled if I were in alignment with the nature of the divine, which is giving. If I were to be aligned I saw the question as “what is mine to give?”

I don’t know how it really was for Mary, but in the work of Edgar Cayce, Mary was an Essene. Women were valued and educated, and leaders in this group. Her life had been the formulation of “what was hers to give.” And her angel answered that in detail.

A beautiful spiritual law, “As You Give You Gain In Understanding”, helped. So I sat down and I knew to ask in my heart. That’s where we connect with Divine Presence, where infinite wisdom flows through us. I felt it. I breathed it. I opened to it. “What is mine to give?”

I had honored the importance of that question. The answer came. Clear. Direct. Specific. How, when, and why. It’s not like an idea, another thing to think about, but when Spirit moves, it brings understanding. I am sharing this because I know you too are asking. This is a time for change. You are here by divine appointment, an instrument of the divine in this world. Ask. “What is mine to give?” “What is mine to give?” “What is mine to give?”

Take the time creating the opportunity. Value the importance of who you are. Go to those places which are not healed and bring the love to them. Open to the reply.
“What is mine to give?” In my experience, there are angels just lined up waiting for us to ask!

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December 7, 2014 – The ADVENTure Begins

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12/07/14 Sheila Gautreaux, L.U.T.
The ADVENTure Begins

Advent is the expectation, the excitement around an arrival. This Advent season, energy around the world is focused on the coming, the rebirth, of the Christ. Why not put into this energy the seeds of that which you want to arrive in your life? Use all this energy as support. Holy Spirit guides us by universal laws like the Law of Mind Action (thoughts in mind produce after their kind) or the Law of Compensation (whatever you give out will come back to you). The universal laws are absolute, no shakey, not some-timey. They can’t be coerced. They simply act. When we are aligned with them, they support us, we have the force working for us. When we go against them we get “the full force of the law”.

I was coaching a lady who wanted to get away from her boss and start a new job when I got from Spirit that she was not supposed to have a job. As we worked with the universal laws, her situation at work began to shift. The company opened a position for a consultant to travel to their sites around the country (away from her boss). She got it. Not much later she was offered part ownership in a thriving company in Sacramento. Now she no longer has a “job”, she has a business.

In “expectation” of what you wish to “arrive” in your life, begin by asking yourself how you could have played at a higher level with the things that showed up this year. Then focus on living in alignment with what you want to bring into your life, like perfect health. Then list what things you can do to support that; list what goals will lead to those things. Now put a by-when date on your calendar or tell Siri. Putting a by-when date on a goal spurs you to action. Then be sure to visualize what your life will look like when you have these things. Really feel it. It is a scientific fact that what we are most excited about we draw to us. What you are giving out there must come back!

Now don’t “hope” or “wish”—expect. You are an off-shoot of the Creator. Just like you inherited characteristics from you parents, you inherited the ability to create from your Creator. Only when you doubt this do you lose your excitement, your expectation. Affirm, I expect the very best in my life and I am excited! I expect the very best in my life and I am excited! I expect the very best in my life and I am excited! And I am excited for you!

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November 30, 2014 – Gratitude

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11/30/14 Rev. David McArthur with Rob Seidenspinner
Gratitude

Native Americans walk with gratitude all the time. With them it is deeper than simply thankfulness. Feel gratitude for someone is a blessing to and for that person. Let’s join with others in feeling gratitude for someone special to them. Together, the power of that gratitude is increased. It is much more. Meister Eckhart, the great mystic of the thirteenth century, said, “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”
Among the many expressions of gratitude from the congregation: I am grateful

–for people in my life who, channeling Spirit, poke me when there’s something I need to heal
–for my wife bringing my life from black and white into Technicolor
–for my wife who prods me on, makes me grow, and is the light of my life
–for my Unity family and friends
–for the inspiration from this community
–for this attitude of gratitude
–for the prayers on this healing journey
–for my mother’s good health and for wisdom and love from my partner
–for the smiles and hugs I get here
–for everyone of you who touch my heart
–for HeartMath
–for my family and coming here to join them and find this community as I make my transition and for good books about this to study and for the spirituality coming from quantum physics
–for David and Kathryn
–for the experience of sharing someone’s last year as they make their passing
–for finding here that I was not alone, I am never alone, and I never would be alone
–for coming back after months of traveling and still having your love as if I’d not ever gone
–for kundalini meditation and the insight it taught me to use in so many ways: “I wish to grow.”
–for the Heart Ministry here that helped me through the darkest night of my soul
–for the happy trees today that made me cry

Feel this deep beautiful gratitude in your heart throughout the week. Say, “I am grateful!” When traffic comes to a stop ahead of you, look at all the cars and say, “I am grateful!” Look at that person in the mirror and say “I am grateful for getting to be that person!” And for those magnificent people in your life, “I am grateful!”

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November 23, 2014 – Something Wonderful Is Happening Right Now

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11/23/14 Rev. Mary Omwake
Something Wonderful Is Happening Right Now

Aloha! When you say “aloha” don’t you just feel happy? Your whole body opens up. “A” means “from the very first light from the beginning” and “lo” means “eternal”. “Ha”—we share the breath of God. “A-lo-ha”—from the very beginning, forever, we share the breath of God. “Aloha” lifts your vibration.

We live in vibration; that’s really all there is. We all want to live in a vibration where the highest and best comes. But a shock, a disappointment, takes the vibration way down. Then we don’t understand what’s going on. We’re not living in alignment with Spirit and our dream inside. We are less able to handle our troubles. Drama is created, and your vibration can be seen in everything that comes out of your mouth. But the universe must match your vibration. It’s all there is. If that is what you want, it gives you more. It says, “repeat!”

Jesus said that when you wake (when you know you created your troubles), you will be disturbed. But when you know, “you will be with me forever.” So when trouble comes, go down there, find out how you created it and clear the stuff out and come back. Seek and don’t stop until you find. Its the best worst thing that ever happens. And so when trouble comes, you know something wonderful is happening right now! The word for it is “apocatastisis.

If someone takes your parking space, say apocatastisis! Something wonderful is happening right now! It is the constant awareness of ever unfolding good. It keeps your vibration up to know this.

A CEO in Detroit dreamed of raising big horn cattle. He sold everything he had and left a high salary, power and prestige behind. He bought land in Oklahoma, but there was no water on it. He went to his spiritual mentor, who told him, “Apocatastisis. (Something wonderful is happening right now.)” He started drilling for water and soon had spent all his money without finding it. His mentor again told him, “Apocatastisis.” He spent all he could borrow from the bank, and from family and friends. No water. He was desperate. Again his adviser told him, “Apocatastisis.” With only enough money left for one or two more drills, he hit oil! The largest strike in Oklahoma ever. He never did find water, but now he can truck in all he wants for his herd. Apocatastisis.

Years ago I was on the beach in Maui listening to an interview with Warren Buffet. When asked when he might retire, he said, “Retire?! Everyday I get to do work I love with people I cherish.” It is the constant awareness of ever unfolding good. Apocatastisis! Something good is happening right now! God bless you!

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November 16, 2014 – Put It To The Test

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11/16/14 Sheila Gautreaux, L.U.T.
Put It To The Test

This month, November, offers us a prime opportunity. For Thanksgiving Day, families come together to feast—and deal with their issues. But as they come together, they are of one heart, being grateful and giving thanks. The energy of gratitude is high this time of year. But what about the rest of the year? We get caught up in our activities and tend to forget the core appreciation we do have.

Science now shows us the power of the heart when it’s in gratitude, which goes forth from our hearts to draw to us more of what we appreciate. So let’s see what we might develop in this time when millions share this energy.

Everything Jesus did was a teaching point. He never made us feel he was more than us. That came from others later. But even when he raised up Lazarus he first gave thanks. He never did ask God for anything! He always claimed it or gave thanks for it. And science shows us that what we appreciate appreciates.

But there are things in our lives that don’t appear to be good. What if we use our elder brother’s method? What if, when our challenges arise, we have gratefulness for them? I haven’t asked for anything in ten years! But I have clothes and food and I came here to be assistant minister. Challenges happen for us (not to us). If we find the blessing in the challenge, the solution is there. What if we can hit a home run with the challenge? What if we prove God in the laboratory of our lives?

When you make your list, list everything, including the not-so-good stuff. All you need to do is be willing to be willing. The Holy Spirit will do the rest. Let’s see what God can do! Let’s check it out! Put God to the test: “Show me. I want to see.” Affirm, I Am Grateful for Everything! I Am Grateful for Everything! I Am Grateful for Everything! Yes, that’s what I’m talking about! Check it out!



November 9, 2014 – Teddy Bear Feeling – A Positive Path

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11/9/14 Rev. David McArthur
Teddy Bear Feeling – A Positive Path

The Divine Presence is absolute good. In Unity, we’re obsessive about this “positive”. We never get to the heaven/hell/sin stuff. There’s pure love, and it is not found in the intellect. One good way to find it is hugging a teddy bear! It opens our feelings to experience the pure love which God is and let it touch us. Hugging a teddy bear is a God experience, because it always feels good. If love is there God is there; if God is there love is there. As we open to this, we connect deeper and deeper with who we really are.

Medics were called into a village in Viet Nam after an attack. A little girl badly needed blood. With difficulty they explained they needed blood donors. A little boy raised his hand to volunteer. He was a match, and as they began drawing blood he began to cry. He sobbed deeply. A translator told the medics that the little boy thought he was giving all his blood, that he would die. They asked why then did he volunteer, and he replied that she was his friend.

That’s who we really are. We do love. That’s why we’re here. The more we connect the easier it is to see. We get distracted and caught up with things but that’s not who we are. Pain, loss, ill health, or lack means that of the greater potential there, only a part of what is greater has been manifest. This love, this presence constantly guides us back to who we really are.

It is pure love without opposite. That’s the reality. It’s a beautiful thing to realize. In the Upanishads, Hinduism says, “The Lord is one without a second.” In the beautiful Jewish teachings, “The Lord is one.” The Koran says, “There is only one God.” Not two, just one. Jesus said, “If … thine eye [lamp] be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” There is just one. It is pure. It is real. It is God, life; it is everywhere. A great way to touch it is the teddy bear.

In 19th century London a young street urchin survived by putting on labels in a workhouse. In his ten years he had gotten 4 years of reading and writing. He secretly wrote stories, and after many attempts, he finally got a publisher, but wasn’t paid anything. But he learned how to get published! It was Charles Dickens. His written stories and his own story show us the amazing potential in all of us. God is there—the potential, the intelligence, the love. If God is there, love is there. Right at this moment an amazing potential is here. Love is here. Love is here. Love is here. In every situation in everyone of us. When you know that, it is hard to be anything less than positive. And what I know is that because you are here, love is here!

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November 2, 2014 – Beauty and the Beast – Loving Ourselves

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11/2/14 Rev. David McArthur
Beauty and the Beast – Loving Ourselves

When we look at this experience of love we call God, how hard it is to let it be directed at ourselves!

Once very successful, but now in poverty, a merchant was riding home one night but got lost in a terrible storm. He rode toward a distant light, which grew brighter. The air got warmer and the forest, green. There was a large manor with beautiful gardens. The front door was standing open. No one ever appeared, but his every need was met. In the morning he left to return home, but first he picked a rose for his daughter, Beauty. Then the Beast did appear, “I have warmed, fed and housed you and have asked nothing in return, yet you steal from me. Your life is forfeit!” The merchant pleaded for his life, explaining he took the rose for his daughter, Beauty. The Beast relents, but only if Beauty comes to live with him. When she arrives, the Beast asks Beauty if she is there of her free will, and she answers that she is (to save her father).

We are all these people, including the Beast. The criminal, angry, animal things we do to others! The difficulty is we still carry the Beast inside and must deal with it in order to expand into the spiritual awakening. We can feel lost in the storm and seek the light. There it is warm and comfortable with all that we need. It is another state of consciousness. But there too is forfeiting of life. To go back to what is not real is the death. We try to deny and control our beast, but love transforms. We must bring beauty (the developing feminine self, our feeling nature) into our experience with the Divine to fully experience it.

Beauty declined the Beast’s many offers of marriage. She remained true to her integrity, as she saw the Beast as an angry, violent being. In time, she began to see and appreciate his caring way. She began to see his heart. However, she wanted to marry the handsome Prince (the mind) in her dreams, so how could she marry the Beast? She goes home for a while (a spiritual vacation), where she wakes up to her appreciation and love for the Beast. So she returns only to find he is dying. She holds him in her arms, and her tears bring life back to him.

The Beast again asks her to wed, and this time she says “Yes!” because now she knows she loves him. His beastly facade fades away. He is the handsome Prince she had dreamed of. It is by love that we create true harmony. It’s about loving ourselves—not about anything else but letting ourselves have the feeling of loving. Give yourself the hug that lets the Divine fill you and bring you into fulfillment. Beauty’s dreams told her that beauty is within all the time because God is good all the time! God is good all the time! All the time God is good!

Let this lead you to the consciousness of Happily Ever After!

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October 26, 2014 – Transitions

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10/26/14 Sheila Gautreaux, L.U.T.
Transitions

Look at what’s going on—ebola and terrorism in our own country, even changes in our own congregation. The best book I’ve read on change is Robert Brumet’s Finding Yourself in Transition. He says that change is similar to rights of passage. It is inevitable and extremely painful. But the suffering is optional. When we have a drastic, unexpected change in our lives it is a kind of death. Something we had depended on, loved, and felt we needed is ripped away. Our impulse is to grieve it. But we can embrace it.

Like the Israelite’s journey out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the Promised Land, there are stages to our transitions as identified by Brumet. First is Endings. You’ve lost your feeling of safety, or your health. You retire or become an “empty nester”. There is disengagement, followed by disidentification—you are no longer a husband or wife, or part of a unit, or one of the healthy. You move into disenchantment, where you have lost your faith in love, or in your employability, and so on, even your faith in God. You feel lost, hopeless, discouraged. You don’t know who you are anymore. You are disoriented. But when you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hold on!

The second stage of transition is the Void. As the Israelites did, you are wondering in the wilderness. It doesn’t feel very good. Your only connection is to the God of your understanding. But know you are being guided. It is painful but it also has purpose. It is said that this is the point at which suicides occur. Don’t give up. The light is just around the corner. You are like a seed in the soil that has lost it’s covering, but now you can send down roots and grow into a strong new plant ready to bloom and bear fruit. You are being reborn into a more perfect self. You can appreciate the beautiful transition moving through you. You have the tools and ability to move forward into the unknown without giving up. In my Void, I was literally on the carpet with the pain, but then I saw clearly what it was for. I saw a new vision, a new way of being, the third stage of transition. It brought me to Unity.

Each time we set out on a journey that is pulling us away from what we feel we can’t live without, there is this divine spark within that will lead us through. It empowers us. Understand the power of transition. This is an inside job. You will know yourself more deeply than before. Keep making the effort to let go, to open to what Spirit has for you. Trust. Each transition lifts you to a higher level.

There is so much change in our lives right now. Expect the good, the Promised Land. What shows up isn’t what you prayed for, but what you expect. Trust. Expect. “…and goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life.”

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