Sunday Messages

This Week’s Message

Life is a P.I.C.N.I.C.

I’m here to tell you a secret, friends – Life is indeed a PICNIC! I learned this secret from Rev. Michael of the Unity church in St. Louis, Missouri, and I’m passing it on to you today.

How can life be a picnic you ask? Picnics are fun, there’s lots of food, lots of games, lots of friends and family, we get out in nature. But you are probably thinking, life isn’t like that all the time. Life isn’t fun all the time. We don’t always have enough food and certainly not enough spare time and we hardly ever get out in nature because we work all the time. Life is not a picnic!

But I’m telling you today life is a picnic. Life is a PICNIC. Problem in Consciousness, Not In Circumstances. Let me say that again. PICNIC, Problem in Consciousness Not In Circumstances.

A pastor of a church in the Midwest was agonizing about how to tell his congregation they needed $4000 to fix the church roof not just the $500 they initially thought. He was struggling to find just the right way to tell them on that Sunday morning when he was hit with another problem. His regular organist was sick and a substitute, one he didn’t know, had been brought in at the last minute. This substitute organist played the organ at the minor league baseball games and the pastor did not know if she could play a church service. She arrived just before the service began and the pastor only had minute to go over the order of service with her. There wasn’t even time for the pastor to go through the hymnal and select a hymn to play after he made his big announcement about the roof problem, so he said “you just pick out a song to play at that time,” and he began the service.

At the appropriate time the pastor stood up and said, “Brothers and sisters, we are in great difficulty. The roof repairs will be more than we expected and we need $4,000. I want everyone, who will pledge at least $100 to help fix the roof, to please stand up.” The congregation began to moan. Being a quick thinker, the organist at that very moment recognized that Life is a PICNIC, Problem in Consciousness not in Circumstances and she began to play “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Everyone rose to their feet! When they realized what had happened, they all began to laugh. The money was raised that very morning and the substitute organist was hired on the spot.

Every time we recognize that each and every one of our “problems” is not in the circumstances, but in our consciousness, it is easy to solve them. All we have to do is shift into higher consciousness. In a recent article in “Unity Magazine” Eric Butterworth writes, “The need is not to set things right (as in try to change the circumstances) but to see them rightly (to see the Truth about whatever is happening.)”

He says that turning away from the outward appearances, closing our eyes to the so-called convincing facts of what we think we see, we can open our inner eyes and see the real Truth with our higher consciousness, from our highest point of view. He also says that we are always confusing facts with the Truth. “Facts and Truth are two entirely different things.” Wow, did this statement bowl me over! Facts and Truth are two entirely different things. What we see in the outer circumstances is a fact. There is not enough money in my bank account to pay my bills. My leg hurts. What goes up must come down. Those are all “facts” of this world. But this world is illusion. It is not true.

Butterworth says, “The Truth is what a thing can be—the reality that is always present because God is always present. God is present as that which you need, and as that which divine life is seeking to give you.” Every moment is a new moment, a new day, in which we can recognize the Truth and create that Truth. The facts are the circumstances, and circumstances are very easy to change when we close our eyes and see with our inner eyes, our inner consciousness of the Truth.

What are some of the Truths that we know? God is our Source, not the bank, not our job, not the inheritance we are expecting from our Uncle Joe. God is our Source. We are whole, complete and perfect. Another Truth is that our higher body pattern is whole, complete and perfect, no matter the circumstances we think we see. We heal our bodies all the time. When you get a scratch, does it stay around for the rest of your life? No, it heals into the perfection that is our true self. Every seven years we have a completely new body. Why not create it perfectly to express that wholeness? Love is filling me right now. I may not have a partner right now, I may be new to town, but that does not mean I am not loved or filled with love. God is Love and everywhere present. I am loved and I am love. These are some of the higher Truths.

Every time we are caught up in our circumstances, that is our opportunity to reaffirm our Truth and shift into higher consciousness where that Truth exists and then let it express back into the circumstances and change them. It’s like wishing and praying that you will win the lottery but you never buy a ticket. It’s like discovering that every journey begins with taking that first step and then you take another and another towards your destination and all of a sudden you find you are there.

The captain was out on deck that foggy night when he saw what appeared to be the lights of another ship heading toward him. He called his signalman to contact the other ship by signal light. He sent the message, “Change your course ten degrees to the north.”

The message came back, “Change your course ten degrees to the south.” The captain responded, “I am the captain. Change your course ten degrees to the north.” The response said, “I am a seaman first class. You change your course ten degrees to the south.”

By this time, the captain was furious. He ordered his signalman to reply, “I am a battleship. You change your course ten degrees to the north.” The response this time said, “I am a lighthouse. You change your course ten degrees to the south!” This is a great story about the difference between facts and truth. We often get so caught up in our beliefs about our ship that we ignore the truth of the lighthouse.

Why we as human beings make things so difficult is always hard to understand. All we have to do is shift into higher consciousness and remember the Truth. Then just be that Truth. We don’t have to solve anything. We don’t have to do anything. All we have to do is be – be our Truth. Be peace, be love, be abundance. Shift from working, shift from worrying, shift from struggling, and just simply be the God that is within you.

So anchor this word, partners, in your mind and heart - PICNIC. Life is a PICNIC. The Problem is in Consciousness, Not in Circumstances.

When we remember that Life is a PICNIC, we can make that easy shift into our Truth and miracles will occur. I guar…an…tee it! Namaste.