Spirit Online

May 8, 2008

Quotes

"He did it with all his heart, and prospered." - 2 Chronicles 31:21

"Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming." - John Wooden

Thoughts 

Most successful people not only have a goal toward which they strive, but they also have the ability to see the progress, improvements and milestones along the way.  They are able to stay positive despite temporary setbacks and are able to celebrate all those successful moments before reaching their goal.  

In our daily lives we hit obstacles, have failures, make mistakes and experience frustrations so it is understandable why we can lose our hope, our enthusiasm  and give up before attaining our goals.  Enthusiasm is a key component in enjoying the journey while striving toward the destination.  It gives us the courage to keep going despite the setbacks.

The thing that makes life successful and enjoyable is being able to enjoy all the small steps of success.  No matter what goal we are working toward one of the most important things is our ability to acknowledge our progress along the way.  If we don't, we will risk losing our enthusiasm.   Marking our progress increases our confidence, our strength and our appreciation of achieving our goals. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Nothing great was achieved without enthusiasm."  It is that creative energy of God, an impulse within us that moves us forward with hope, excitement and energy no matter what is going on in our lives.  And the way we keep that enthusiasm alive is by celebrating our successes every day.   

In the story of the Prodigal Son the father did not chide the son about his mistakes and failures.  He did not focus on what the son did wrong.  Instead, he asked his servants to get a fatted calf so everyone could celebrate his son's return.  The focus was on the good, not the wrong!  We too need to take the time to celebrate our success and rejoice in the good, and in so doing, we will improve all areas of our life.  It will become an important part of our spiritual growth and progress.  We don't have to wait until we reach our goal to take the time to enjoy the progress and success of our journey.

There are three ways we can keep up our enthusiasm, to keep going and not lose our momentum.  The first thing we need to do is to realize we are already a success.   We usually measure our success by what we have already done, achieved or accomplished.  It is usually some external measure.  To a certain extent we have this  belief that we are not good enough right now, that we need to achieve something, to do something, to accomplish something to be successful.  We feel we have to prove our excellence to others.  What if we don't have to prove anything to anyone? What if we are already a winner?  What if we are already worthy?  What if we are already successful?  How would we change our way of living by just feeling and living from that place?  Each one of us is God's beloved child, in whom God is well-pleased.  The truth is that we are already valuable, wonderful, worthy and successful!

We are divine by nature, our spirits are holy; we are God's living spirit in expression in this world.  Knowing this sets us free to live, to reach out and try. If we are going to celebrate the successes in our lives we need to celebrate the first success, and that is the truth of who we are!

The second thing we need to do is to redefine and to recognize what real success is.  We have some very unrealistic views of what success is.  When we think of  the business world we think of Bill Gates, in the real estate field, of  Donald Trump, or in golf, of Tiger Woods.  We have no in-between.  We think we won't be successful unless we meet a certain criteria, otherwise we think we are a failure. 

How can we measure our success when we place this high standard in front of ourselves?  Just what is our definition of success?  In truth, success is anything we think it is!  We create our definition of  it.  Success can be learning from our mistakes, enjoying what we do and the people with whom we do it; success can be trying something new; success can be healing some old wound or hurt; success can be feeling peace. We all have the power to write our own history; we have the power to define what success is for us and to rejoice, recognize and look for it in ourselves.

The final thing to celebrate and enjoy our success is to write down and rejoice in our every day successes.   Our lives are not perfect.  We are flawed; we do make mistakes and there are disappointments, but we can't wait till until everything is perfect to enjoy life.  It is about the journey not just the destination and one of the best ways for us to give thanks and to remember our successes is to write them down.  There is power in the written word. Let's celebrate those little successes, perhaps an "aha" moment, a moment of peace, a moment of making a connection or anything that makes us feel more complete.

Our life will be filled with more joy, more peace, more energy, and every day will feel like a new day if we remember that we are already a success, live from that place that we have value, that we are God's children in whom God is well-pleased.  Let's redefine and recognize a new way to determine success in our lives and finally, let's take time to rejoice and write down our successes.  Our life will be overflowing with joy, happiness and fulfillment as we take time to celebrate our successes!

Prayer

Living, loving Spirit, as I enter my place of peace and quiet, I relax in Your presence and acknowledge that I am already whole, complete and successful.  I am grateful that I can enjoy and celebrate each day knowing my destination is less important than the recognition and appreciation of each day's small successes.  And so it is.  Amen.

News

**Special Services & Programs

Monday Silent Meditation Service: Mondays at 6:15-6:45 pm in the Chapel.  (Doors close exactly at 6:16 pm to honor the silence.)  This service will have an entirely different flavor than our Wednesday evening service.  The intention of this spiritual experience is to provide the opportunity to rest in the silence, and to deepen our awareness of God's spirit within us.  A facilitator will briefly open by reading the Daily Word and will close by stating the affirmation once again.  The time between these two readings-about 20 minutes -will be held in sacred silence.  Please join us!

Wednesday Evening Meditation Service:  6:15 pm in the Chapel.  Feel a deeper connection to Spirit!  Come feel the energy of our meditation service.  An amazing energy of support and healing is present at each service.  We have a new feel to the service and have added new meditative music that will enhance the experience and energy of healing and a profound experience of God.  After the service, Prayer Chaplains are available to pray with you.  Doors close promptly at 6:16 pm to honor our meditation time.  The service concludes in time for all 7 pm classes.

 Prayer Vigil:  Sunday, May 18, 9:00-1:00 pm in the Chapel.  Join your spiritual community to hold in positive intention the strength and prosperity of our spiritual community and the continued success of our Fundraising Campaign and to hold in collective consciousness any prayer request made by our congregants.

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