Dear Friends,
Have you ever had a “Push Through” day? There are those days where you wake up, and in spite of a morning spiritual practice, the day looks endless and all you want to do is sit or sleep. I have those days myself. I call them my
“push through” days. Just recently I had one of those. I was sitting in my chair after meditating and reading and I just didn’t want to get up to “get things done.” I said a silent, “Help me God through this day.” So I continued to sit… until all of a sudden I got up and began my first job, boil some eggs. It was if my legs, arms and body knew what to do and when to do it. After that I checked my computer, still feeling like I am pushing through. Then I made the bed, ate breakfast, still feeling like I am pushing through, wrote some letters of reference for friends, scheduled a couple zoom meetings, still feeling like I am pushing through, soothed some hurt feelings from an email, created agendas and updates for scheduled meetings, made some phone calls, bought some birthday gifts. and the day went on. At some point I showered and went out to do errands. Throughout the day, I continued to feel like I was pushing through. I realized by the end of the day, I had accomplished far more than I thought I would. I knew it was the simple prayer, “Help me God through this day.”
No matter what we are doing, where we are, or how we are feeling, God is within us doing the work. There are times we must consciously let God take over and push us through the day. I gave a simple example and I know there are many people going through very tough times right now in life. Pushing through isn’t as simple as I had it. However the simple prayer “Help me God through this day” still works. The more we rely on God to move us through the day, clear our path, open doors of opportunity, block what no longer serves us, and show us different perspectives, we gain energy, time and endurance to handle all types of challenges or inconveniences.

Remember, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us reJOYce in it!”

Letting God Push Me Through,
Abigail and Steve

Dear Friends,

“I bless and give thanks for teachers. Teachers change the world by opening the minds of their students, expanding their horizons and creating new paths of possibility and achievement. Teachers sow seeds of creativity that blossom into inspiring thoughts and kindled imaginations.” (August Daily Word)

This week I want to honor all teachers. Children, young adults and adults will be going back to school with many mixed emotions. They may be fearful due to the pandemic, joyful to see their friends, worried they are not up to grade level, and anxious to start a new school year.

I understand these feelings from both points of view, the teacher and the student. As a former Kindergarten and First grade teacher, I loved getting back into the classroom, setting up the bulletin boards, reconnecting with the other teachers, making lesson plans and reading up on all my students. Usually we had a “pre-opening,” where parents and students can come into the classroom, meet me, look around and become familiar with the rest of the children. Today, this is not the case. I have talked with several teachers and the opening of school is definitely not the same. Teachers will be teaching in the classroom again, as well as teaching students online. Some of my retired teacher friends have substituted doing the online teaching. Each one said it was difficult keeping the young children’s attention. Teaching in this manner is more stressful than normal and I know of one teacher in particular who said she may need to take an early retirement mid-year.

So I ask all those who are reading this newsletter to pray for ALL teachers, administrators, aides, custodians, bus drivers, knowing the Divine Wisdom
and Intelligence, Love and Joy of God/Spirit is within them, guiding, and directing their lessons, and interactions with all students, parents and colleagues. Teaching is a “Calling.” So we pray all teachers prepare themselves soulfully and spiritually.

Blessings, Abigail and Steve

Dear Friends,

“A father and son were walking on the beach and every so often the boy picked up stones and pebbles and put them in his pocket. Soon he found walking difficult and asked his dad to pick him up. His dad did but told him he needed to rid himself of the stones and pebbles.
As you and I go through life, we pick up stones along the way. When we turn to Spirit for help, It responds, ‘Put down the stones of disbelief, doubt, fear and resentment. Make your burden light. Move within and remember I Am always with you” (Science of Mind Magazine, August, Rev. Dr. Ron Fox)

This past week I was very much like that little boy. We had/have an Interfaith Awareness Week coming up and I was worried about the Opening Ceremony Program Sunday, August 8th . I wanted everything to be smooth as silk. The gentleman putting the Opening together seemed to not be responding to my emails or texts. He kept asking for videos of our speakers and music, which I had sent him many times previously. I was in a near panic thinking he may not be able to pull this off. After talking with him, I found out his computer was being fixed and he was using another computer which did not have all his info on it. He was also having other serious challenges in his life. Once knowing what he was going through, I felt more compassionate.

We finally had a “practice” run and he had everything in order. He only needed to work on his presentation in-between the speaker and music videos.
When we finished the run through, all I could do was let go of my worry, doubt, and anxiety pebbles. So Steve and I prayed !!!! Go figure!

“God is Greater than the burdens you are carrying. Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you.” Psalm 56:22

There are times we just have to cast the burden on the Lord and let go. I think that is one of the most difficult lessons to learn, because, if you are like me, I tend to blame myself when things go wrong even if I was not the one directly responsible for it. I felt responsible for the entire week, when in reality this is God’s week, not my week. God’s Will be done, not my will be done.

This experience taught to be compassionate, because we never know what people are going through, and to view life from different perspectives.
I continues to know all IS in Divine Order and Timing and God is in charge.

Letting Go of Heavy Pebbles,
Abigail and Steve

Dear Friends,

“TIME FOR A TUNE UP!”

The Universe is designed to grow, expand, and evolve in all ways. We as humans, in this universe, are also designed to grow, evolve and ever expand physically, emotionally and spiritually. We are all part of God’s Divine Design.
If we feel our lives are veering in a direction we do not wish to go, it is time to
STOP, PAUSE, and TUNE UP Ourselves.

There are 3 Ideas I would like to share with you today on PAUSING and TUNING UP.

1.Get support. If we want to grow, we must take time for a regular spiritual tune-up.
When we tune up our cars on a regular basis it improves the fuel economy, lowers emissions, improves engine performance and restores its pep and power.
When our back is “out of whack” we go to a chiropractor for an adjustment to realign our spine.
For our Spiritual support, we can go to a practitioner, minister or prayer partner to help us see the Truth of our being in times of crisis and challenges.
We also go to our faith tradition’s service, take spiritual education classes, workshops and webinars, to help tune up our mind and heart.
In order to grow and evolve we must find the time to get a spiritual tune up!

2.Evaluate when and where you would like improvement in your life and be teachable in those areas.
Be humble and honest with yourself. Stop making excuses. Look at any pain you may have caused another. Forgive yourself and ask for forgiveness from others. Being humble creates an inner freedom from having to protect those parts that we try to hide from ourselves and others. We begin to develop a quiet, understanding and compassionate heart.
Embrace your humanness. Our self-worth may plummet, however remember our self-worth is not attached to our human mistakes or failures. We are always the Beloved of God, worthy and blessed.
Try journaling to express your deepest thoughts. It will help reveal what you need to know, in order to grow, expand and tune up.
Keep a High Conscious watch for yourself. How others react or perceive your intentions is their business.

3.Let go of that which you don’t want and state the thing that you
do want!
Choose to let go of unhappiness, judgment and victim-mentality.
Flip an attitude of “poor me,” to “Yeah for me!”
Job loss? This is a blessing for God has a new and better job in mind with better salary, working conditions and colleagues. Vision and write down what you do want!
Health? No matter the circumstances or doctor’s prognosis, remember the truth of yourself. You are spirit, an eternal being, whole, perfect and complete. Vision God’s light flowing through every atom, cell and molecule of your body. Enlist a minister or practitioner to see and state the truth with you.
Friends? Consider everyone your friend because we are all one in God. Every person you meet in the store, at the bank, at work are friends. SEE them as such. State you have an abundance of friends! Then call someone to chat or make a date to have coffee.
Attitude? You can choose to be cranky or compassionate, sour or joyful.
State how you want to be in the world and BE IT!
Money? You do have enough. State it! Count all the blessings in your life. Give to where you are spiritually fed and invest in companies that align with your core values and spiritual principles.! Bless the money you give and watch how it blesses and returns to you in numerous ways.
PAUSE, and see where you need to Tune yourself up in life!

(This message is an excerpt from the Sunday lesson at the CSL Inland Empire, where Rev. Abigail was the guest speaker. Ideas for this lesson also came from writings of Abigail Schairer, CSL Seattle).

Pausing and Tuning up,
Abigail and Steve