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Sacred Secrets shares Unity beliefs about the Law of Attraction through a unique collection of writings from Unity ministers, licensed teachers, and others, including Dr. Michael Beckwith--one of the teachers featured in The Secret. You'll learn what the Law of Attaction means, how it works, and how it rightly fits within a framework of spiritual awareness and understanding. $14.95 ORDER FROM www.unitybooks.org Click on BOOKS and CDs for other writings by Sandra Rae Hymel
Attitude
= 100% By Sandra Rae Hymel Unity Minister If
it is true that we draw to us all of our experiences, this implies that we
attract the painful, as well as the joyful, experiences. Or, as stated in Job
4:14: “That which I feared has come upon me.” Does
this mean, then, that a child born with deformities has attracted this reality?
Or that starving people in our world drew to them starvation? Does it mean
people tortured in the holocaust, killed in 9/11, or victimized by hurricane
Katrina attracted these atrocities? I believe we err grievously when we
oversimplify in this way. Too
often we hear a well-meaning spiritual practitioner chiding someone who is
facing difficulty by saying, “What is it in your consciousness that drew this
issue to you?” Such
an application of the law of attraction is what I call “New Age sin”—the
erroneous application of a basic truth. The story told in John 9:1-5 illustrates
why: “As he (Jesus) went along he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples
asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born
blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ Jesus answered, ‘but
that happened so that the work of God might be manifested in his life.’”
In other words, this turn of events occurred to open the way for a greater
manifestation of God. At
the heart of adversity lies opportunity—the opportunity to choose an attitude
that demonstrates the Christ-power in each of us. This Christ-power stems from
our faith in God active in the heart of all humankind. Wars,
earthquakes, famines, the passing of loved ones, even the downsizing of jobs are
very much part of our life experience. The critical question is, What is our
attitude in the midst of these experiences? Do we choose to grow
through them or just go through them?
Jesus said, “Such things must happen … yet see to it that you are not
alarmed. … for all these things are but the beginning of birth pains” (Mt.
24:6-8). In other words, There is nothing to fear, for God is here! God, the
good, is forever present and always creating new beginnings from seeming chaos. In
the face of any challenge, we can ask, What is my attitude toward this person or
experience? At any given moment, we can choose an experience of heaven or hell. “For
as a man thinks within himself, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7). We
might say that attitude = 100 percent! That is, your attitude toward each of
life’s experiences determines 100 percent of the reward you reap. In fact, if
you add together the numerical position in the alphabet of each letter in the
word attitude, the numbers equal 100! A
– 1 Some
of the most powerful stories of the importance of attitude have been told by
survivors of the Nazi concentration camps. In Viktor E. Frankl’s inspiring
book, Man’s Search for Meaning, he
writes: “We who lived in concentration
camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving
away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer
sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last
of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of
circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” [p86] Unity
co-founder Myrtle Fillmore advised many who came to her for prayer to “count
it all joy.” She saw problems as the gateway to growth. She once wrote to a
Truth student, “Count it all joy—all those personal disappointments in
people, even Truth students, because they have given you the impetus to rely
upon your indwelling Lord.” She also wrote, “When one door closes another
opens, because God always opens new avenues of blessings when former conditions
pass away.” And finally, “The trials of today are stepping-stones over which
you pass to a glorious destiny.” [Torch
Bearer to Light the Way by Neal Vahle p75] It
doesn’t matter how the experience comes to you; you are in charge of your
attitude toward it. Even
when your beloved moves through the life event we call “death,” you have a
choice in how to grieve. The Aramaic word for death, meta,
means “not present here, but elsewhere.” You can get angry with God or with
your beloved—or you can give thanks for wonderful memories of the time you
shared and pass on to others the gift that person was to you. It is only natural
to experience anger, blame ,
or sorrow in grieving a loved one. However, in time, you have the opportunity to
choose a new attitude that will move you on to a new phase of living. Each
one of us is God in expression. The great 13th century mystic, Meister Eckhart,
said, “God did not become man in just one single individual. He has taken on
human nature totally—therefore, He dwells in every person.” [Meister
Eckart's way to Cosmic Consciousness by K.o. Schmidt p58] You,
dear friend, are God’s beloved daughter or son—special, unique and
important. You have every reason to walk 100 percent with an attitude of DELIGHT! D-ivine child of God that you are! Temple of the Holy Spirit! E-nthuse yourself with God, infill all you do with the Flame of
Spirit! L-ove your life! Live your Love! I-llumine your path! Light up the darkness! G-ratitude is your attitude as you count your blessings! H-umble is your stance in the face of challenges! T-rue to your Self always! DELIGHT
that … You
were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within you. |
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