Prosperity - Part 1

I recently completed a class offered by my church entitled “The 4T Prosperity Program”. I was excited about this class, assuming from the name that the focus would be mainly around the energy of bringing in more of the “green stuff”. Being a BIG FAN of the green stuff, I was all over that idea!

Within the first 15 min of the very first class, it was clear I had been badly mistaken about the whole “green stuff” idea – the focus on the class was actually to change consciousness which didn’t ring the way I had hoped it would but I did want to work on my consciousness otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen this church to attend. And besides, I was there and thought I might as well follow through and see what might happen.

The class itself cost $50 which I had to pay in installments and one of the main commitments of the class was to tithe. Now this idea scared me half to death. Though I had tithed in the past, I mostly felt that tithing applied more to other people than to me, after all, in the past I had given enormously of my time and talents so I figured God would cut me some slack in the tithing department. Besides that, this was most definitely NOT a good time to give away any of my money. I didn’t feel I had enough of it to spare, even for God. So I cried as I drove home that night, but then decided, “What the heck, it’s only 12 weeks, that’s 6 paychecks, I can do anything for 6 weeks.”

Almost immediately stuff started happening…and from the initial appearance, this “stuff” was not good stuff.

My plumbing, which has been an on again/off again problem in this nearly 65 year old house, began acting up. And by that terminology I am being literal as in not going down but indeed coming up. I called my plumber, “Billy the Plumber” but he was unable to get to me immediately. With gratitude I write here that I do have another bathroom which was not affected from the “obstruction” so I used that one until Billy could finally schedule a visit.

His visit was scheduled on a beautiful Saturday afternoon nearly two weeks later. I planned to run an errand or two in the morning and had just settled myself in my little gold PT Cruiser, pulled out of the driveway and drove three doors down to the stop sign when suddenly CRASH KABOOM, I smashed into another car. This was my fault completely having failed to stop at this stop sign where I had been stopping for 13 years! Why? I don’t know. Distracted by a garage sale on the corner, perhaps? So the cops come, I’m crying hysterically, got a $164 ticket but worse was that my little gold car was crumbled, undriveable – and I couldn’t have been going more that 12-15 MPH.

Billy the Plumber arrives later that afternoon and begins working on my clogged plumbing, commiserating with me sympathetically about the car (which a neighbor had already proclaimed “totaled” to which I cried even harder and louder with that bit of info knowing I had no way to buy another car) and the ticket blah blah blah.

Anyway, Billy works and works on my plumbing, unable to get the crap moving, muttering about how it was REALLY “ jammed-up” in there. I stopped him after about an hour and said, “How much have we spent so far because I have $100 and that is it. That’s all I’ve got. For real.”

He graciously said, “Nothing yet, I haven’t got you unplugged yet.” I was so grateful but as the minutes turned to hours, I knew he couldn’t do all that work for $100. And still the pipes were clogged. I walked around the outside of the house and the inside, visualizing light moving through the piping, opening up the way. While I was inside, he began packing up all his stuff. I figured he had given up. It was a hopeless case. And I literally had NO money for a more extreme method of unclogging. I asked him what should I do next and he looked at me quizzically, “We got it all moving again, you’re good to go! I about fainted with relief.

So the next big question. How much? Because he had worked non-stop for 3 1/2 hrs, it had to be an enormous charge, right? Billy the Very Fine and Bestest Plumber In All The World said.”$100”. Can you feel the energy around this? WOW was I blessed. Thank you God! Thank you God! Thank you God!

THAT WAS PROPERITY IN ACTION!

Stay tuned for more stories from these 12 weeks of classes. There’s a bunch.

Namaste,

Linda

Everything is Relative

I'm amazed and frequently dismayed at how often I feel sorry for myself. I talk alot about gratitude. I talk about it because I have discovered it is the one tried and true remedy for pulling myself away from my own pity party.

If you knew me well, and we were to have a face-to-face conversation and you were, lets say, whining about this or that, I'd start forcing you to list all the ways in which you are blessed. Soon you would either cheerfully (or not) join in on the game or get up and walk away...anything to shut me up.

However, sometimes I need a real in-my-own-face kind of wake-up call.

Last year at about this time, I was hobbling around on crutches and a cast having fallen down and broken my ankle. I went back to work relatively quickly as I had very little "sick time" accrued. One day a guy came to my desk and as we were chatting I (apparently trying to garner some sympathy) hiked my leg, cast and all, up on my desk to show him how pitiful I was. With my dirty toes protruding from my colorful cast I smiled at the nice young man.

He smiled back at me, and then, smoothly with ease and grace, lifted his leg up and placed it on the desk next to mine...it was a prosthesis.

Talk about a humbling moment!

With obvious embarrassment, I slumped back down into my chair, dragging my broken bone with me. But, at least, I HAD a bone, and skin to stuff it into. He, with amazing compassion and tact, removed his "leg" and we proceeded with business as usual.

Always We Begin Again

Each Day

At the beginning of each day,

after we open our eyes

to receive the light

of that day,

As we listen to the voices

and sounds

that surround us,

We must resolve to treat each hour

as the rarest of gifts,

and be grateful

for the consciousness

that allows us to experience it,

recalling in thanks

that our awareness is a present

from we know not where,

or how, or why.

When we rise from sleep let us rise for the joy

of the true Work that we will be about

this day,

and considerately cheer one another on.

Life will always provide matters for concern.

Each day, however, brings with it reasons for

joy.

Each day carries the potential

to bring the experience of heaven;

have the courage to expect good from it.

Be gentle with this life,

and use the light of life

to live fully in your time.

Taken from Always We Begin Again