Affirming Spiritual Practices
by Carol S. Helms, RScP
“Seek to make your work a prayer, your believing an act, your living an art. It is then that the object of your faith will be made visible to you. It is then that you shall ‘kiss the lips of your desire’.” ~ Ernest Holmes, “This Thing Called You”, p. 37.
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” ~ The Serenity Prayer
It was just recently that I came across the Ernest Holmes quote above, and it could not have come at a better time. I find that this quadruple whammy of pandemic, war, social unrest and political self-centeredness make life difficult; generally, and specifically in the work environment. Just reading “seek to make your work a prayer, your believing an act, your living an art” mentally and emotionally awakened and called forth the blessings and balance within me, and now both are go-to’s to replace negative thoughts about “the things I cannot change.” I can always, anytime, anywhere, change my mind, and in so-doing, change my life. I am indeed blessed, and just stating that returns me to a state of balance.
There is one life; one perfect, whole and complete life; that life is my life now. That life is not the lottery; it is a practice. That life responds to what I put into it, and if I keep putting the same into it, I keep getting the same result. This earthly life experience is a continuous 24-7-365 opportunity to contemplate a better thought; to choose a smarter action; to secure a God-centered, God-certain outcome. And in this physical manifestation phase of our eternal lives, we have limitless do-overs. For a long time I bought into the notion that “I don’t have time for spiritual practice.” Now I know and cherish the truth that spiritual practices, like breathing, are something we live, not something we do. As I know these practices are transforming my life, I know this is true for all who are seeking the “courage to change.”
So today, and every day, as I part of my walking, meditative prayer, I affirm the Christ-consciousness in each of us, in all of us, as I walk and talk, listen and learn, kneel and heal, believe and receive, pray and stay on the path of spiritual principles and practices with our brother the teacher, our brother the prophet, our brother the healer, our brother the guardian of the down-trodden; knowing I am aligned with our brother that God sent as a role model. For this and so much more, I am grateful. And so it is!