Today, an exceptional Divine Being left this planet. Her name is Melissa Hart. Patrick and I had the honor and blessing of marrying her and her husband Chris a few years ago at sunrise on the Island of Kaua’i. I remember the true and rich love that permeated the room when we had our first meeting. Yes, they are an exceptional couple.

Melissa passed on yesterday from cancer. She documented much of her journey on Facebook and she inspired us the whole way. She was filled with the humor, love, courage, common sense of a Spirit who had so much to give us in the way of Truth.

The day before yesterday she posted her last video, although she didn’t say it was. It was titled “Not Dead Yet.” She touched me in a profound way. She was talking about her horendous physical experience and pointed out “You always have a choice.” She related that even though her body was going through horrific physical pain, she had a choice in how she labeled it. Was she going to label it bad or was she going to say “this just is what it is. Let’s see where it takes me.”

Labels are something we are very good at applying to everything. We label our experiences. We label people. We label the occurences in the world. We label what people say. We label and we have two labels: Good or Bad.

What if we were to shift that? What if we were to stop the labels and just have the experience and deal with it from a place of self-love, acceptance, a need to grow and expand our understanding, a desire to focus on what uplifts us and leave behind what doesn’t? What if we were to just stop labeling things and instead ask what’s wanting to be revealed here? There is something powerful happening that I get to learn something from. What’s mine to do? What can I release? Can I control this or must I just surrender. It’s not good or bad. It just is.

I’m going to delve into this idea today as I think about Melissa’s passing. I really can’t understand it. She had small children and was married to the love of her life. What if it wasn’t bad or good. What if it just is. Do I have enough faith and trust to know that the Universe is always conspiring in our favor? In Melissa’s favor? Do I have enough faith to be okay with the mystery of life? Do I have enough faith to just surrender my need to know.

I am at choice as to what I think today and whether or not I want to continue to label everything or just know that I have the ability to experience it and know that I am always safe and that I know just what to do in every moment. If I stay in the present moment, I will be much better equipped to experience my life from the highest point of view.

Choice is the highest and best gift we have. I invite us all to cherish it by using it with Divine Wisdom and Love.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita