I began exercising in 1977 when I had just had my third child. I remember how dedicated I was to it. I would put my daughter in the middle of the local high school football field where I could see her. She’d crawl around while I ran around the running track that was part of that field. I did this pretty much every day. Over the years, I’ve missed times of running, but for the most part, I’ve been consistent about some form of exercise. My body is important to me. It’s worth that commitment and the commitment to feed it good food. This has helped me to recover quicker from illnesses I’ve experienced. I know keeping in good shape has assisted in ways of which I might not even be aware.

In 1998, I discovered the Science of Mind and Spirit. I’d been looking for a belief system that I could truly embrace for many years. When I heard Dr. Marlene Morris of the Burbank Church of Religious Science tell me that God was within me and that I could have the life of my dreams if I was willing to take responsibility for my life and work on my beliefs, I never turned back. Now, this made sense! The first thing I did was jump into class. I couldn’t stop learning. I read. I learned to meditate. I learned how to do Spiritual Mind Treatment. I affirmed myself out of my victimhood, poverty consciousness, and my life shifted. I became a practitioner. I became a minister. There has never been anything that I couldn’t accomplish that I set before myself. I can’t say it’s been easy sailing, but I can say that I always have a deep well of Truth to draw from when I need it.

Just like my body has been become strong over the years from taking good care of it, my spiritual muscles are flexible. Am I saying I never have a dark night of the soul? No, I’ve had many, but my dark nights always have a rising sun. I know how to maneuver myself through, because I have somewhere to turn, and that somewhere never lets me down.

For the past year, it seems that I’ve been flexing quite a bit. I’ll just start with the passing of our best friends’ daughter last November. We have been nurturing our souls all year about this one. In between then and now, we’ve had plenty of opportunities to prove that spiritual thought force is greater than material resistance, the latest being this past week when we suddenly lost one of our dear members of CSL Kaua`i, Jai Roberts. We also have another dear friend on the Mainland ready to make her transition. There have been more challenges this year than I ever remember experiencing. What do we do?

I have a method. I rely on Principle. Now, you might ask what is Principle? Ernest Holmes (the Founder of the Science of Mind) wrote, “The Science of Mind is the study of the Principle of Being. The source or cause from which a thing results, a truth which is unchangeable. We first understand a principle and then relate it to our problem for a final test.” You see, it’s not a Principle if it cannot be proven, and it must make sense in all things, not just when we like what’s happening. For example, there is a Principle in our teaching that says that “Life reflects back to the thinker what he thinks into it.” This is the way life works. Our lives are the results of our thoughts and feelings and our beliefs. I cannot argue with this principle or say it works in one instance and is not true in another. It either is or it isn’t. I know it is true, and I can prove it with my own life. No matter what I might say about the way things turn out for me in any give situation, I always know it is based on the how I have believed about that situation even if it is what I have expected from another person. It is done unto me as I believe and I cannot get around this.

There is also the Principle that states that each life is individualized. We are all Divine unique expressions of one Mind. The operative word is unique. What is true for m in regards to my life’s journey is not true for you or for Jai Roberts for that matter. I have no way of knowing another person’s journey besides that I know it is the life of God expressing through that person. It would be impossible for me to tell anyone why Jai has left this earthly plane. I don’t know her on that deepest level. I don’t know her journey. I only trust that it is unfolding perfectly for her. It has to be. I can’t say it is only unfolding perfectly when I like what’s happening.

There is another Principle that says that life is eternal. Energy cannot die. Life is life, not death. Do I necessarily know what happens to me when I die? Since, as far as I know I have never died, I can’t answer that question. However, based on the Principle of Life, I know that because I exist as consciousness, I must continue to exist as consciousness. Life is spiritually logical. It’s not meant to be confusing. We make it that way by wanting something to be our way and then not liking it when it does not turn out that way.

These are just a few of the Principles that help me all the time. It helps me to know that I don’t have to understand everything nor explain it. It helps me to know that some things right now are a mystery to me. Not a mystery to Life, but to me for a moment. I trust that someday I will know. I trust that because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Presence that I deal with is Love, I am safe and so are those around me seen and unseen.

Life is a miracle. I get to experience this miracle every day. My spiritual muscle is strong because I’ve been flexing it for over 20 years now. I’ve never given up on one day just because I had a bad day. Because of this, every breath I take can take me back to Principle when I slow down and actually focus on this. Dr. Holmes used to say something like, if nothing else, I only ask that you believe for if you believe all else falls beautifully into place eventually and usually sooner than later. There are secrets of the spirit that we are privy to if we take the time to listen, are patient and don’t give up. There are answers that come exactly when they are needed if we keep flexing. When I began running, I couldn’t run the four miles I run now. When I don’t practice, I have to start over again and build it up. It’s easier to just keep exercising. It’s easier to just keep prayed up. I remember when I went to New Mexico to run a half marathon there with my daughter. I hadn’t lived in New Mexico for over ten years. However, as soon as I went up in altitude from L.A. and began running every cell in my body remembered what to do.

This same thing happens when we are practiced in spiritual ways. We automatically have something to fall back on and it meets us where we are. There is something to be said about God never giving us anything greater than we can handle. Of course, I do not believe in an outside God, but I do know that the challenges we have come with all the tools to meet them. Anita Moorjani once said that we couldn’t have a dark night of the soul, if we didn’t have the tools to light our way through. I believe this.

It’s been almost a week since Jai’s passing. It’s been an intense week, but every corner I’ve turned, there has been strength there to meet me. It might be another person, a passage from one of my favorite books, a treatment that I’ve given myself or asked for. Strength meets strength exactly where it is. This is a Principle that I can rely on. Our spiritual muscles are made to stretch and flex. There is no limit to what they can do when we call upon them. We are infinite, unlimited and sit in a field of Infinite potential. When there is a challenge, it might mean we’ve grown a little too comfortable and it’s time to expand again. I actually think this might be a Principle we can prove. Think about it as you look back on the times of challenge in your life.

The Spiritual Journey is not a comfortable journey; it is always asking us to expand. There is always more to know, more to be and more to experience.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita