Click HERE to view Rev. Jimmie Scott’s guided meditation during the service.
SONG LYRICS
It don’t come easy, you know it don’t come easy
It don’t come easy, you know it don’t come easy
Got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues
And you know it don’t come easy
You don’t have to shout or leap about
You can even play them easy
Forget about the past and all your sorrow
The future won’t last, it will soon be your tomorrow
I don’t ask for much, I only want trust
And you know it don’t come easy
And this love of mine keeps growing all the time
And you know it just ain’t easy
Open up your heart, let’s come together
Use a little love and we will make it work out better
Got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues
And you know it don’t come easy
You don’t have to shout or leap about
You can even play them easy
Please remember peace is how we make it
Here within your reach, if you’re big enough to take it
I don’t ask for much, I only want trust
And you know it don’t come easy
And this love of mine keeps growing all the time
And you know it don’t come easy
MESSAGE
So how many people would like your life to be a little bit easier? How many people would like your life to be a lot easier? [Laughs] And how many people have an area in your life that is not progressing as quickly and smoothly and easily as you’d like? Anybody have one of those? And how many people have a relationship that is not easy; maybe your boss; maybe with a child; maybe somebody in your life? And then the final one is: How many people have ever given up on something that you really wanted because it was hard and took a lot of work … more work than you wanted to do? Anybody have that experience?
You know, Thomas Edison once said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it’s dressed in overalls and disguised as hard work.”
I believe we can have anything we want … if we’re willing to do the work for it. I absolutely believe that, if we put in the practice, the principles, we know we will get the things that we desire. We will manifest it. But the question is: Are we willing to do that work? Because it don’t come easy!
Today we’re in Week #2 of our five-week Fall version series of the “Songs of Life.” Because music just does something to us. There’s something … We probably have a song that got us through a difficult time. We have a song that uplifts us; that opens our hearts. Music is so incredible!
So I take a famous song and try to extract a spiritual message to help us live life more fully, inspired by the song. Last week we started with Lauren Daigle’s “You Say.” And that message for us was about believing, and specifically believing in ourselves.
And today we’re going to look at Ringo Starr’s 1971 song, “It Don’t Come Easy.” You know, the Beatles broke up in April of 1970, and this was his first song on a solo album. He worked with George Harrison to write these lyrics. And I find it’s a fun tune, and I think the message is about hope and optimism and staying positive and persistent when life isn’t going well. And it can get better! But it will not come easy. It will take work and effort.
The song was originally titled, “You’ve Got to Pay Your Dues.” You know, you’ve got to do your work if you want to get the results and all the rewards.
And the work I think is the most important is that spiritual work — that inner work — to create a higher spiritual perspective and develop what is called a “growth mindset.” That’s the hardest work: is to see the challenges that are in our lives — the roadblocks — as springboards: springboards to make us stronger; to make us wiser; to bring out the very best in ourselves.
If you look at the most successful people, it is because they learned from their mistakes. They developed their qualities; they took all of their achievements and kept building on it and building on it. Thomas Edison — we talked about him last week — said, “I didn’t fail 10,000 times; I just successfully discovered 10,000 ways that don’t work.” [Congregation laughs]
Walt Disney went bankrupt a number of times, but he was persistent. He saw them as a springboard every time to help him get better and better and better.
Jesus developed into who Jesus was. The Bible says, “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature.” That he learned! That’s a huge part about life: it is about taking whatever results happen and using them to make us wiser, stronger, better and more driven.
Growing and unfolding is a huge and important aspect of life. And it doesn’t always come as easy as we would like. You know, the first lines of this song are:
It don’t come easy
You know it don’t come easy
While we all secretly always wish for life to be easy, we all know that it isn’t. Jesus even said, “In this life there will be trials and tribulations, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” There are challenges and struggles in our lives, but be of good cheer. Because if we work through it, it can be more fulfilling. It can be an amazing experience.
Notice Jesus didn’t say, “In this life, you’re going to have no problems. It’s going to be a breeze. You’re going to have a blast. You’re going to be able to eat with no thought of getting overweight. You don’t have to exercise. Everything will always go your way! Your spouse will always agree with everything you say; your children will listen to you. Everybody at work is going to like you. Your family is going to be so healthy; they won’t be dysfunctional at all! And no one will misbehave at Thanksgiving. Life is easy!” [Congregation laughs]
Can you imagine Jesus saying that? We know it’s hilarious and ridiculous, because that is not how life is supposed to be. Life isn’t easy, and I think it isn’t easy for a reason.
Anybody remember the The Twilight Zone? I only saw one Twilight Zone … or at least there’s only one I remember. And this one: it had a huge impact. I was a kid, but this was the episode.
It was about this guy; he was a factory worker. And he’s kind of a bad guy; always kind of cheating and doing stuff. And when he’d get his check, he’d go gamble. And when he won, he’d treat everybody and hang out and party with whoever. And when he lost, he’d get upset and pick fights and beat people up. And he’d always try all these tough things. He was not the most above-board guy. And he tried to rob a bank once, and then he got killed. And he died.
And he wakes up in the beautiful suite: silk sheets; beautiful art decorating everywhere. A man in a white suit there, and a whole pile of money. And the guy in the white says, “Welcome to eternity. I’m here to help you; anything you need, I’ll happy to give you, whatever it is that you want.”
And he says, “Well, whose money is that?”
And he said, “It’s all your money. And if you spend it all, I’ll get you even more money. Whatever you want.”
So the guy grabs his money, goes down to the casino and starts gambling. Winning, winning like crazy! And then taking the winnings, partying, inviting men, women, everybody. Just having a great time! Everybody loves him; everybody likes him. Everything’s going his way. He’s winning, winning.
So a few months go by, and that’s all he’s doing: is winning. Everything’s going perfect; his way. So then he starts to try to lose, but he keeps winning. He tries to pick fights with the guys, and they totally back off. He treats people poorly, and yet they keep loving and supporting him. Everything keeps going his way over and over again.
He’s getting a little tired and bored. He goes back to the guy in the white suit. And he says, “Hey; could I go to the other place for a little bit? Just a couple of hours?” [Congregation laughs]
And the guy in the white suit said, “No; this is where you’re going to spend eternity.”
And then the guy says, “Wow. You know, heaven is not as much fun as I thought it would be. It’s a little boring.”
And the guy in the white suit says, “What makes you think you’re in heaven?” [Congregation laughs]
And I’ll tell you: that had an impact on me as a kid. Could you imagine if everything always went your way? If you were always right … even though we think that! Could you imagine if life was that easy all the time? I would suggest it wouldn’t be as fulfilling. I suggest it wouldn’t be as fun; it would not be as meaningful. That principle of having work; having to push ourselves; and having to stretch beyond is a principle that exists in everything
Your body — if you want to be healthy — you’ve got to exercise. The worst thing you could do for yourself — your body — is smoke; the second worst thing is nothing. If you want to get greater endurance or strength or fast or be healthy or have greater energy, you have to push your body. You have to exert your body. You have to do that physical work; otherwise, we’ll be out of shape. We won’t feel as healthy and energetic.
Same with the brain! If you want to have greater cognitive skills, you’ve got to push and stretch your mind. And as we get older, you’ve got to push and stretch it more! The amazing thing about the brain is it continues to get better and better if you’re willing to stretch it and challenge it and test it.
That principle of “It don’t come easy” is there to actually help our lives be better and greater. And we’re the ones who get to determine how good and great it is by how much we’re willing to put into it.
One of the Scriptures that I didn’t like when I was a kid, but I really appreciate it now is when Paul said, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you face trials of any kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance; and let perseverance finish its work in you, that you will be whole, complete and lacking in nothing.”
The reason that life is challenging; the reason there are trials and difficulties; the reasons why we make mistakes is to help us grow and develop into the fullness of who we came here to be: that we will be whole, complete and lacking in nothing.
I want you to think about something in your life that you’re really proud of that you accomplished. Proud of that you overcame. Proud of that you did, or proud of that you’ve become. And I will bet 100% that took more work and effort and time than you probably even realize.
So whatever it is that’s going on in your life, know right now that it will make you better. That you will learn from it. You will grow from it if you’re willing to have a growth mindset and see it as a springboard instead of a roadblock.
Now I want to talk about three practices [from the song] that aren’t so easy that makes our lives better, and in some ways helps us enjoy it a little easier.
And the first line says:
Forget about your past and all your sorrow
The future won’t last; it will soon be your tomorrow
You know, sometimes our “todays” are repeats of our yesterdays. Sometimes we re-feel and relive some of our hurts and disappointments and our greatest pain. Sometimes we hold on to resentment and bitterness and blame. And sometimes holding on to those negative emotions — just reliving it — keeps us stuck in the past. And you can’t really move forward to live.
If we want to live and move forward, we need to learn how to release; how to let go; and how to surrender the past so we can be free to move forward.
I know somebody that I’m close to that is in your 60s who still holds on to resentments from when they were a kid. Still has hate and anger that spews. It is amazing; it’s almost like hitting that “Repeat” button over and over again and singing that same tune. Keeping that memory alive. Keeping the pain alive.
Anybody ever hit the “Replay” button on some hurt of the past? And you kept playing it for a little bit? I think we have all been in that place. Regardless of whether it was wrong or bad or unfair, or something we didn’t deserve, the question is — like in the song: How many of our tomorrows are we going to give up by holding on and staying stuck in the past?
And I’ll tell you, I know I’ve held on to the pain of the past before. I’ve been stuck. Sometimes we get stuck with some story; we just become our story: what they did to me. And we create this victim consciousness.
You know I was paralyzed in a car accident. The driver fell asleep at the wheel. And my story was HE RUINED MY LIFE. That was the button I kept hitting. HE RUINED MY LIFE. HE RUINED MY LIFE. And it was a horrible experience.
And then after about a year-and-a-half — and really a lot of self-pity. Even more than being angry with him, I felt sorry for myself. My mom would drop these Unity Daily Words all over the place. And I picked one up and, coincidentally, it was about forgiveness. You know, that “accidentally” happens in our lives.
And one of the things it made me realize is: that incident happened a long time ago. How many more of my todays and my tomorrows am I going to keep holding on? Two years’ worth? Five years’ worth? Ten years’ worth? And I realized that it wasn’t worth it; that I deserved better, and the only one that was doing it to me was actually myself.
And so I began a process of consciously being willing to release it. Being willing to let go of the pain of the past. Willing to surrender my heart and my life to God. It was probably the greatest thing I did for myself, because it freed me to live and move forward, and find greater good in my life.
“Forget about your past and all your sorrow” is an invitation to all of us — if we want to live our lives and move forward — to release that pain. Release the past.
So what in your past is it time for you to move on from? What in your past is it time for you to free yourself from? And what sorrow is it time for you to let go of? Because it truly is the beginning of making our lives better. Because we’re able to finally move forward from that to create even greater things.
The next line says:
Please remember peace is how we make it
Here within your reach, if you’re big enough to take it
Interesting … When George Harrison was helping Ringo finish this song … You know, George Harrison was a very spiritual guy. He said everything in your life can wait except your search for God. He really was very dedicated. And he wanted that line to be, “Please remember God is how we make it,” but Ringo didn’t like the religious thing. (And George even had a little Hare Krishna thing in the background.) So Ringo didn’t want that. So they actually settled on the word “peace.” “Please remember peace is how we make it.”
And I think it was a great thing, because the truth is: I think one of the greatest and most important things in life is to feel a sense of peace. You could have everything in this world, but if you do not have peace of mind, you really do not have the ability to enjoy any of it. Peace.
… peace is how we make it
Here within your reach, if you’re big enough to take it
And what it’s saying is: it’s good to let go of the past. But are you willing to go a little deeper and feel God’s peace? Are you willing to create a big enough space in yourself to be still: to quite your mind and to feel what Paul calls, “the peace that surpasses all human understanding.” Are you willing to go that deep? Because the deeper you go, the better life gets. The more joyful it gets.
There’s a king, and he wanted to have a contest to see who could paint the picture of perfect peace. And the two finalists … The first one was a beautiful mountain lake scene. The water was so still it was like glass. And it perfectly reflected the mountains. The trees were perfect. It was so calm! And it was so soothing and so picturesque. It was like, “Wow! That’s the perfect picture of peace.”
The second painting was of a raging waterfall raging and rushing, thundering down hundreds of gallons violently against the rocks. And there was a little branch that was gnarled that was at the side of the waterfall. And on it there was a little bird in a little nest singing its beautiful song.
Which of the two do you think was perfect peace? It could be either. But I’d pick the one with the little bird. Because how do you find peace when there’s raging stuff around our lives? When our lives aren’t as perfect? And the truth is: we can find peace even when things aren’t going as easy.
When Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” — or blessed are the cheesemakers … either one is very, very important! [Laughs] Cheesemakers; peacemakers; everybody! I used to think it’s about people who made peace like mediators. Like bringing peace in relationships; communities; nations. But I really thought — when you think about it — it’s about people who make peace with themselves. Blessed are those who make peace with themselves.
And sometimes we need to ask: Where in my life do I need to make peace with myself? Maybe I need to make peace with some poor choice or mistake I made. Maybe I need to make peace with our bodies. Maybe it’s peace with our problems or our families. Maybe it’s peace with just our current situation. Maybe making peace with who we are.
Because until we find peace there, it’s hard for it to be a springboard to move to greater levels of joy and health and happiness.
So where in your life do you need to make peace with something? And are you willing to create a bigger space to feel that peace of God that surpasses human understanding?
And then the final verse we’re going to look at is:
I don’t ask for much, I only want trust
And you know it don’t come easy
And this love of mine keeps growing all the time
And you know it just ain’t easy
Open up your heart, let’s come together
Use a little love and we will make it work out better
And the one line I really want to focus on is, “Open up your heart.” Because we have a tendency, as human beings, to close our hearts. Ever close your heart off to somebody? I think we’ve all done that. We’ve absolutely all done that. And the thing is: we hold back our love. We don’t love fully and freely. Sometimes we love conditionally, and we love with reservation. And we live cautiously and tentatively instead of open-heartedly.
And we all know to open our hearts and to live open-heartedly is the greatest way to live. Love is the greatest commandment. Love is the thing we seek more than anything else. Love is the reason that we are here.
So we all need to ask ourselves: Where in my life have I closed off my heart? Who have I closed off my heart to? Including: Is there a place I’ve closed my heart off to myself? And where in your life is calling you to open your heart? Where in your life do you know that it’s time for you to open your heart and feel and share and express more love?
Love is the greatest force in this universe! There’s a book called The Heart Math Solution. If you’ve heard about it, they’ve done research about how powerful and intelligent the heart is. Do you know that the heart has its own nervous system that has 40,000 neurons? Your heart has the strongest electro-magnetic field that goes through every cell of our body and actually radiates beyond our physical body. Do you know our emotions affect our heart rate and our heart has a level of intelligence that can actually read and send messages to every cell of our body? That when we are in tune with our heart — when we open our heart; when we open that love space — amazing things comes through: intuition and wisdom and understanding from the deepest place in our souls.
And so one of the things we need to do is to check out when our heart is closed and learn how to open it. And the way to open it is just even as simple as thinking of things that you appreciate. What’s something that you appreciate? Like you appreciate your family; you appreciate your friends; appreciate your house. You appreciate the smell of coffee or air conditioning. [Congregation laughs] Whatever you appreciate — feel a sense of appreciation — there’s something that happens to our hearts when we are just thankful, grateful and appreciative.
Another one is — for whoever in your life that you’re bumping up against — is to have empathy for them. Have some compassion. Not to justify or excuse anything, but just to know that they’re doing their best. That they’re hurting in that way, too. The more we drop our judgement and open our heart in compassion, the more our heart opens. That heart intelligence and level of intuition is available to us.
And the final bit is to forgive. If there’s anything we’re holding on to, release that energy. Release that toxic, hateful energy. Because when we open our heart, we truly access the Divine in ourselves. Not just what your head is saying, but what our heart is saying, is usually the wisest thing.
So the question is: Are you willing to open your heart a little more? That is one of the greatest ways that will make our lives better is by opening our heart and expressing a greater level of love.
Life isn’t easy. Relationships aren’t easy. Success isn’t easy. But we can overcome and achieve great things! Instead of wishing life was easier, we could spend time investing it in knowing that we could rise above that. That we can spend time developing a “growth mindset” of knowing that it’s not a roadblock, its a springboard — whatever’s ahead of me — to help make my life better.
And here are the three things we can practice this week: forgetting our past and all our sorrows. To be willing to release; to let go; and to surrender the hurt and the pain of the past. It’s to remember that peace is how we make it. That to feel God’s peace within our heart — and especially making peace with ourselves. And finally, to open up our heart and let that divine love in our hearts and our intuition guide us to know what is the right thing to do.
There’s a better life, and a more abundant life, and a more joyful life in us … but we have to do the work. And if we’re willing to do the work, we’ll be able to say, “Each and every day,” [congregation joins in] “In each and every way, my life is getting better and better and better.” One more time: [with congregation] “Each and every day, in each and every way, my life is getting better and better and better.”
And that is the message in the song, “It Don’t Come Easy.”
God bless you, everybody! [Congregation applauds and whoops]
Copyright 2022 Unity of Phoenix Spiritual Center/Rev. Richard Maraj