Heart-image – New Thought Song

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Companion song to The Heart of the Matter. I’m thankful for expressions of Truth, in all their forms that come through me!

Heart-image Lyrics

Instrument: Lady – tenor Flea ukulele

S: = spoken

Refrain:
You have a heart, don’t you?
Just look inside, won’t you?
And let yourself see the truth.
Is there a dark shadow,
Or a cave, a grotto?
If you want to, you can choose something new!

S: And why would I want to do that?
1. Because the image that you hold
Is what will unfold in your life.
And any error in heart –
It pulls you apart,
Leaving strife when life could be nice!
Refrain:

S: But what could I choose?
2. The greatest image of you –
The Spirit of Truth, is divine.
But mental thinking alone
Can’t bring you back home –
That’s inside, don’t hide, ’cause it’s yours and theirs and mine!
‘Cause
Refrain:

S: And how do I choose it?
3. This metaphysical stuff –
It isn’t a bluff or a dare.
While living this life you know,
You can make it your own
And be aware, you care, living “God is everywhere”:
That means in you!
‘Cause
Refrain:

If you want to, you can choose something new!

Affirmative Prayer: What is it and why Should I Care?

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This live class is just what it seems. We discuss traditional prayer vs. affirmative prayer, describe different prayer methods, and ask ourselves “To whom, or what, are we praying?” Handouts, activities and meditations included.

Online version will be posted the day after each live session.

Details:

* What? Class – Affirmative Prayer: What is it and why Should I Care?

* Why? To improve your relationship to God and prayer, and create a joyful prayer practice that works for you.

* How? Through discussion, prayer/treatment, meditation and hands-on activities

* Where? Unity of Reading
4443 10th Ave.
Temple, PA 19560

* When? Thursdays for 6 weeks, beginning April 18, 2013, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Specific dates are: 4/18, 4/25, 5/2, 5/9, 5/16 and 5/23.

* Cost? Free – donation accepted

* Who? Taught by Rev. Crystal (New Thought Metaphysical Minister)

The Heart of the Matter – Metaphysical Talk

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Message shared 4/14 at Unity of Reading.

Updated 6/30/2013
Today it was brought to my attention that instead of being more general, I mentioned one spiritual leader in this message. I apologize for this and ask forgiveness from anyone who felt hurt. It was also said that this message is contrary to the teachings of Unity. While I will not speak for Unity, I affirm that the message upholds my own and other common New Thought metaphysical teachings. Thank you for your understanding and compassion, now and always!

Following are companion readings:

Excerpt from Jesus Christ Heals

by Charles Fillmore
pp. 5-6

Perfect health is natural, and the work of the spiritual healer is to restore this perfect health, which is innate and can be spoken into expression. Our ills are the result of our sins or failure to adjust our minds to Divine Mind. “Man hath authority on earth to forgive sins.” When the sinning state of mind is forgiven and the right state of mind established, man is restored to his primal and natural wholeness. This is wholly a mental process, and so all conditions of man are the result of his thinking. “As he [man] thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

Proverbs 23:7

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

Affirmation

My heart is open to the truth that I am made in God’s image. All my conscious and unconscious thoughts, the words I speak, and all actions I take sprout from these roots of divine truth. I allow my heart, mind, body and soul to be made new whenever needed, so that God is made manifest through and as me. And so it is!

Handwoven Leno Hug – Ordination Shrug

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crystal-in-leno-hug

I started weaving this shrug/wrap on the 3rd, the day after I joyfully signed my vows and agreements. It was finished 4/6, the day before my first Sunday “as a minister”. It was a fun project with special meaning to me.

Originally I planned to weave the Shrug in Leno from The Weaver’s Idea Book by Jane Patrick. But there is a reason why we ask in affirmative prayer for “this, or something better!” I didn’t get “this” pattern, but I got something much better!

All this is :), is 2 pieces. The back piece is long enough to wrap over my shoulders with the fringe touching my upper arms. It has no sleeves, but the sides of the back act almost like capped sleeves.

The front piece is all leno lace. You set up the rigid heddle loom as you would to weave any tabby or plain weave cloth. But as you weave, you pick up and twist groups of threads, locking the twist in place as the shuttle carries the weft back and forth. This is not complicated! Some would say it’s slow, but I felt it wove up quickly, and I had fun – which explains a lot!

I tell you this is not complicated, and it’s not. But the first day I started weaving, I just could not get my mind or my fingers wrapped around what the cloth “should” look like. I’ve never touched leno until now, so I had no idea what I was actually striving to weave. So I stopped, temporarily, and wove a third of the back in plain weave. Fine.

Next day the leno worked great! I still didn’t know, from previous tactile experience, what I was supposed to weave. But I didn’t care. I kept on with it, which taught me again, that we don’t need to know the “how” or the means by which everything will work out. All we need to know, is that it will work out!

SO the second third of the back is in leno, and I felt a sense of accomplishment weaving it. It’s truly a beautiful texture!

The last third, like the first, is plain weave.

Added to the front piece that is all leno, this shrug is my favorite handwoven piece! I wear many of my handwovens, but this one is extra special.

In deciding how to connect the front and back, I had many ideas. I’m grateful for them all and I know I’ll use them in future projects! Chinese knot buttons, beads, standard buttons, ties, cords, plied, twisted or knotted fringe, netting, crocheting, sewing… There are more ways to join 2 pieces than there are pieces to join! 😀

But the idea that stuck was the most natural thing in the world to me. When I was little I got a necklace for Easter. It had plastic lambs strung with beads between them. A sheep-lover all my life, I adored that necklace! And I cried and cried the day it broke. But something made either my mom or me save the lambs from that necklace.

I found them in my jewelry box the night I finished this piece and actually said out loud, “Wow! That’s it!”

Now, one lamb is sewn on each side of the back piece. They lay on my shoulders when I wear this. The leno creates holes in the front piece, so I just put the lambs through some leno on each side. And there you have it.

All is not lost! Leno does work. My sheep live on. And I have something to wear that makes me smile and laugh – and yes, cry a little too, with amazement at how things do work together for our good.

And if it works in these “little things,” how much more does it work in great things?

Something *closer* this way comes!

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Not just a paraphrase from Shakespeare, but something I think we all need to hear now and then. 🙂

You know that feeling, when you’re *this* close to something, but it’s not here yet, or you don’t have it, can’t touch it, and yet you feel like you can taste it?

It’s a lot like that feeling of discontent I talked about before. Again I use the analogy of the pearl. It’s bugging you! You’re saying, “Get it out! Make it go away!” And at the same time, “All right already! Let me see it!” You want the thing in your hands, in your life, right now thankyouverymuch. Can you tell I know the feeling? 😮

So what do you do? I mean, what do you do, if you’re tired of it bugging you and you want something else? You do want to feel better rather than worse, right? Because if you’re happy feeling bad, stop reading now because we’re not on the same page.

What to do, to feel better and flow with the river already bringing your demonstration to you? How to work with it rather than against it? That is the question… Or 2 questions.

And I say, visualize your goal already done. Of course, you’ve already done that at some point, or you wouldn’t have gotten this far! But this is a journey, and journeys have steps. And now, it’s more important than ever to see the thing completed.

Why? Because the alternative, which you may be feeling now, is frustration, impatience, being all fed up with the blasted goal, and what possessed me to want this in the first place? That’s also the reason some people say, or people unfortunately say about others, they never finish anything. That can’t possibly be true! But we say it, and worse, we believe it. When really, all that’s happening is that we lost focus of the thing already done.

Which do you want? You want to see the goal accomplished. You know you do. So that’s where you need to shift. Do what you did when it was just a dream, because it’s still just a dream, and when it’s done and you can see it, guess what! It will still be just a dream!

So be happy about it now. Imagine it done. See it. Feel it. Smell it if it has a smell–which it does, even if you can’t conjure it up. Imagine what you do now, with this accomplished. Now live your life that way, today.

Yes, I’m saying, visualize the goal. But it’s much more than that. Live like you have it. But there’s still more. Know in your heart, in your gut, that it’s yours. Because the Spirit that gave you the desire is the same Spirit that makes it tangible in your life. For you and for itself.

“Whatever you do for the least of these, you do also for me.” ~Jesus Christ

This means, whatever good you do in seeing the Truth of any situation or any goal accomplished, you’re doing it for Christ, for that Spirit within you that wants only to manifest itself more and more! And you, co-creator that you are, are the vehicle that brings forth your unique life.

So do it for you and do it for God/Spirit. Live your life, now! Don’t wait for a better time, “because everything will be great when I have ____.” Why can’t life be great now? It can, and it is, if you allow it to be.

What is your reality? The frustration and lack that comes from the personal ego? Or the Truth and abundance of the Christ-Mind? St. Paul said, “Let the mind be in you that was in Christ.” The key word is “let”. Let it be so, this day, for this goal, and any day, for everything. And so it is!

Random Acts of Kindness – You can Help!

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The week of May 5-12, 2013 is Unity of Reading’s second annual Purposeful Acts of Kindness Week.

Each day at least one kind act will be done on behalf of our Unity center as a whole. In addition, and more importantly for each individual, we encourage everyone to take this into their own hearts and hands! What can you do to spread simple kindness in your community?

This post by William Kelly really sums up these random acts nicely. It doesn’t have to cost you money, or much time. The only requirement as it were, is that the act is heart-felt. I would add spontaneous – it’s fine to have a list of things you’d like to do, but many times what truly will help someone feel blessed is not something you pre-plan!

During your daily meditation period (You do have one, right? 🙂 ) ask for openness. Ask for guidance toward the special, unique kindness that God/Spirit wants to express through you.

You could easily make a list of kind things, without meditation. But the answers you get in meditation will be so in line with your soul, happiness and purpose for being right here, right now… that they will make your heart soar! And how much more will people appreciate them, and pass on the kindness, when it is given from your heart and spirit?

Unity has a list of things it wants to share. Putting quarters in parking meters. Giving out soup. Creating a kind of survival kit as a reminder of who we truly are as spiritual beings. And other things.

You can tell I’m not too excited about any of these! The one that got me feeling all fuzzy inside is the letter-writing. People so often feel under-appreciated, or not appreciated at all. I’ve felt that way myself at times, and it’s just about as bad as it gets. So, I’m helping to write letters to companies and individuals who contribute to Unity in some way. My favorite is the piano tuner – I marvel every Sunday when I play how wonderful our piano sounds, and it’s over 100 years old!

Think about it. How many services do you receive? If you’re going, “Uh, what services?” start with the bills you pay. Obviously you’re paying for something, whether you think it’s worth it or not… 😀

How impressed would you be, say, as an employee of your electric company, if you were the one to open a letter of appreciation? How profound would that be to you, and to the company? And what would you do? You’d go home and tell everyone! You’d give your partner or kids an extra hug! Heck, you might even let someone cut you off in traffic!

So, if letter-writing, or phone-calling is your thing, you have a starting place. Now take this ball and run with it! Make it your ball, your pet, your heart-felt expression. Because there is something you can do! In fact, there is something that ONLY you can do! Someone may not feel blessed by my brand of letter. But maybe yours is just what they need!

All you gotta do, is do what you gotta do!

P.S. Remember the children! They’re often much better at this than we grown-ups! Even the really little ones… Ask them what they would do to be kind? And let them do their own random acts among their community of family and friends.

Kids already know how to be kind… It’s time we truly encouraged their openness to possibility, love, peace and happiness!

Rev. Crystal Ordained

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Ministerial ordination gives someone the rights and privledges to perform ministerial functions. These may include teaching, spiritual coaching, serving a congregation with services and/or lectures… And the list goes on!

I just signed my vows and agreements for ordination by The International Metaphysical Ministry! I feel a sense of accomplishment, of joy, and of awe.

I also feel responsible, but in a good way. First of all, I’m responsible for my own consciousness. And then, I’m responsible for providing metaphysically-based, practical teachings to facilitate others improving their own lives.

I.M.M. founder Dr. Paul Leon Masters says ministers and teachers are capable guides. But that’s all we are! The Presence within each person is their real, true guiding light.

Ordination, to me, is an outer expression of inner work. A manifestation of consciousness. A demonstration of Truth. And in that Truth I will serve, expanding as I rejoyce in the expansion of others, through metaphysical ministry.

I give thanks for I.M.M., the University System and staff, who are so so helpful and supportive. I’m grateful to my fellow students and ministers who respond so openly when I reach out to them. And I give thanks for the Spirit within me, that is all and is in all, that guides, loves, creates and brings forth greatness in every unique way we each serve that Presence!

Easter Poem

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To Aaron with love;
To anyone who has ever been a child…

In Spring the Easter Bunny comes
And everything is new.
The flowers bloom just like the love
That grows inside of you.

Oh, you are special! You are light!
Your heart is full of love.
So, let it grow, and let it bloom
Like flowers in the sun.

Have a blessed Easter, because it’s just celebrating the new life we can choose at any time!

Aareen, the Woven Easter Egg

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Aareen, Woven Easter Egg

This cute little Easter egg toy is named after my son Aaron, and small loom designer Noreen Crone-Findlay.

As you appreciate this, I hope you will use these affirmations:

I allow fun into my life! I embrace the joy life freely offers! I revel in the newness of each season, each week, each day and each moment! I give thanks for the ability to always choose something new and different. And so it is!

Discontent is divine too!

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Oh great. So God wants us to feel discontent? Doesn’t that sound like traditional Christianity? Isn’t that what we’re trying to sublimate or evolve?

Yes, and no. God does not “want” us to feel discontent! However, when we do, it’s an opportunity to create something better.

Dr. Masters and other metaphysicians say that we are all one. And we are. At the same time, we experience individuality, ego and what we sometimes call duality, so that we can participate in the creative process – the process of creation.

So, while feeling discontent is not ideal, not paradise, it isn’t contrary to evolution. It is the discomfort before the pearl emerges from the oyster. If the oyster didn’t feel discontent (assuming they do, which may or may not be true…), there would be no pearl.

If we didn’t feel unhappy with something, there would be less pull to evolve further. Discontent is a springboard, not a stopping place. It’s the kindling, not the fire. It’s the stepping stone, not the foundation.

As long as we choose to see discontent as a divine opportunity, we keep our power. We don’t give more power to the discontent, than to the God within us. Instead, we can re-frame it: I’m moving to something better. This no longer serves me, so I lovingly release it. I look forward to my next step. I’m excited by the unfolding of my Higher God nature!

Next time you feel uncomfortable…

Will you choose dismal discontent? Or divine discontent? And how will that change the course of your life, and how you feel about your journey?