We do not see the world with our eyes, we see it with our consciousness. We see the world as we are, and because of who we are. We have experiences the same way. We experience the world with our consciousness. We could each have the same experience and both of us reflect on it in completely different ways. This is a truth with which I can work. I can work on my sight by working on my consciousness. I can change my experiences by changing my consciousness.

There is a song that I’ll be singing at our Center called “The Meadowlark.” It is from a musical called The Baker’s Wife by Stephen Schwartz. I just love to sing this song because I love its message. It is why I chose to sing it as part of a talk I’m giving called “Sing Out!”

Although the song tells a story about a girl who is torn between a new life with a new love or staying where she is, it is far more than that. It is a metaphor about being blinded by the past and afraid to jump into the future. In the song, the meadowlark lives with an old King who keeps her captive so she can sing for him. He represents the past. “Sing for me, meadowlark,” he whines. He bribes her with jewels and food.

The past does this to us. it keeps us stuck in our stories which we tell over and over. We lament. We cry. We love to reminisce the pain. “Sing for me,” cries our past and we oblige. It bribes us with a sort of uneasy comfort. When we try to find a new way of being, it is difficult. The past is more comfortable even in its uncomfortableness. Change is difficult.

But, I want more. Change means growth to me. It means expansion. I don’t want change for the sake of change, but I am open to it when it comes. I used to resist; but, soon I learned that it was inevitable. Someone said to me yesterday. “I am an instigator for change.” I like this idea. I trust I am that as I walk through the world.

Nothing is permanent and evolution is a forward movement. In the song, the meadowlark receives her sight from the god of the son who hears her beautiful voice. The god of the son represents the future. The lark opens her eyes to the vision of the future. It’s beautiful, but the past calls her back. She just can’t change, because she says, “she loves the old king so, she can’t wound his pride.” Her vision fades.

Our ego holds on. It makes us afraid to change. “You need me,” it screams. Unfortunately, when we get stuck in our past, we suffer a death. In the song, the meadowlark dies. It says, “the king found his meadowlark had died.” But, death is not a necessarily a physical one, but a mental one. We are trapped and buried and we lose our wings of flight into the future because we cannot see anything but the way things were.

Ernest Holmes wrote, “We should also erase the thoughts of yesterday that would rob us of today’s happiness.” He goes on to tell us that Spirit knows no past and holds nothing against us.”

Finally, the girl in the story of the meadowlark decides differently. She won’t be like the meadowlark. Although it might be the worst time to do so, she decides to leave her past and take a step into the unknown with the future. She says she has to do it quickly before her past blinds her again. And so, she does. She moves into her vision of the future.

I remember when I lived in New Mexico, this dear friend of mine who was going to make his transition told me that a window was opening for me. It won’t stay open long he said. I’ve received messages from those ready to transcend at other times and know there is truth in their words. At the time, I didn’t really know what he was talking about, but shortly after that something presented itself to me in the way of an opportunity for change. I understood my friend’s words. I had to leap before I got trapped again in my past. There was no doubt in my mind that it was right, even though it was the most difficult thing I ever did. It was when I left my 27 year old marriage, not for another man, but for me.

We see the world as who we are. We see it either from our past of limitations or with the possibility of an evolving future into expansion. What will you choose? I know for myself, that all I have is the now, which is where I birth my future in every moment. I will continue to work on not letting my past blind me. “Fly away, meadowlark!” Fly away, into a future of unlimited possibilities.”

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita