When we are exercising and we want to improve our distance in running, our speed or perhaps the weights we lift, we push ourselves a little further than before. It’s the same with our spiritual growth. We must push ourselves a little further than we think we can go, especially when things seem rough or more challenging. I think we can all identify with this idea of challenging times.

But, how do we push ourselves a little further without strain? We definitely do not want to feel like we are straining through an experience. Well, it is not about straining, it is about mentally expanding ourselves and shifting our paradigms and concepts of life. We must think a little more deeply and become more spiritually awaken than ever. It is about seeing beyond the experience and knowing that something is at work that we cannot see with our physical eyes, but can feel with our hearts.

During these past few months it seemed that every day I was confronted with another challenge. Just last week, I found myself at breaking point. It seemed that if one more thing happened, I would just give up. My faith was shaken. We had a listening circle at our Center facilitated by another minister. I actually cried in front of everyone. All I want for CSL Kaua`i is for it to be a place of truth, authenticity and love. It starts with me, I know. So I cried and when I went home I had a vulnerability hang over. Is it possible that now everyone looks at me differently, thinking perhaps that I do not have the faith that I profess to have? I suppose that is possible, but it is not my truth and I have to be okay with that.  If I am going to be authentic then I must be authentic.

What happened to me this month is I allowed myself to judge according to appearances. By being pushed past what I thought was my limit, I succumbed to morbidity. Instead of stopping and allowing myself the time to reconsider everything, I kept going until I found myself in a big morbid soup. There is a difference between morbidity and experiencing genuine sorrow.

However, to go back to my original idea of pushing a little further, this really came home to me. This is where my strength lies and this is the reason I felt that moment of hopelessness. I thought I had reached my limit. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to face another blow of some sort. That is far from the Truth. The way to go a little further than you think you can go is to give it up to the Power greater than we are, to fall into it and go through a complete surrender. We must stop thinking we are doing it all and rely on the Infinite Mind that is our Mind. The Universe is unlimited; we are the ones that limit its capacity. However, it takes time to do this, quiet time, alone time. We must spend time on our spiritual mountaintop.

I believe the veil between the unseen and the seen is very thin right now. We stand with one leg in the world of the material and the other leg in the world of Spirit. When we find ourselves swept away into morbidity and the physicality of the Universe, we are living too much as material beings. Material beings do not have solutions that last. Spiritual beings think spiritually and realize that the material is the Spiritual. Cause is invisible and what we see is Cause in form. What Cause do we live by? Look at our life and we will see. We must go back to the First Cause, which is perfect untouched Energy and think from that place. Otherwise, we are making our effects and experience our causes and creating more of the same. Again, this is an act of will, of choice and then surrender.

So, the next time, which is probably today, that I think I have to go a little further than I think I can go, I will take a breath. I will stop. I will reconsider the problem, knowing that there is always a solution. There is a Principle that I can rely on. There is always love. There is always Infinite ideas that are mine to bring into being. There is a Power greater than I am that I call upon through Spiritual Mind Treatment that rides the river of change and expansion with me.  That Power can always go a little bit further and give a little bit more. Then, relaxing, I am open to receive a little bit more. The understanding and comfort I need comes. Cause shows up in amazing ways. I move myself from the world of material to becoming more of a Spiritual Being. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “I am in this world, but now of it.”

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita