The Way It Works

The other day as I was preparing this blog, a congregant came to me with her story of discovery.

It wasn’t the first time by any means that she had seen ‘the Thing’ acting in her life, but as with everyone there are times when It seems more present than others – and this was certainly one of those Moments.

She described to me how she had had a deep conversation with a friend about her future, and how she was mired in confusion, despite having been so clear on her direction only months previously. Her discomfort was so severe that she had woken from a nightmare at 4 a.m. and couldn’t return to sleep.

She started thinking everything was stalled in her life because it wasn’t “meant” for her. She started thinking about turning back the clock to a time that was more familiar to her – to a time when she felt some modicum of success.

It felt like the answer, but it didn’t feel good. Eventually dawn broke, and she decided to meditate. She was so far from her internal truth that spiritual mind treatment felt too much of a stretch.

Within minutes of completing her meditation practice, she felt release. She still wasn’t clear, but her mind had opened and the darkness had lifted.

It was a Sunday, and she drove to our Centre in Kelowna, B.C. confident that at least for the next two hours or so she would be surrounded with love and support. And with her she brought a gift – a bag of used books for our book table because she remembered hearing we needed new titles.

On the way, new ideas flowed in, and it occurred to her that maybe this angst she was feeling wasn’t a sign to turn back the clock, but to go forward into the unknown.

And her confidence rose, and she felt something stir, and new ideas emerged. By the time she arrived at our Centre 15 minutes later she was alive, and bright, and engaged with the mystery.

And then it happened. That thing that seems like a coincidence, but when we’re listening we know so clearly that it’s not.

She dropped her books off, and as is our practice at the Centre, she was invited to exchange her books for a new used one. And there on the table was a book her friend had mentioned to her in the midst of her confusion – The Power of Decision.

“I was only just wondering whether I should buy it, and thought given all my current expenses I should hold off. And then here it was – and free. And just in case I didn’t get the message – the price was marked on it: $3! I couldn’t miss.”

It felt like an affirmation of what she had been thinking. She had broken through to the other side.

This is The Way It Works.

Ernest Holmes says: “The Thing, then, works for us by working through us and is us, always. It cannot work for us in any other way. It spreads Itself over the whole universe and shouts at us from every angle, but It can become power to us (and here he uses caps) ONLY WHEN WE RECOGNIZE IT AS POWER.

My congregant recognized the Power, her meditation practice that morning had awakened her. And so she received the demonstration. She was lifted beyond the limited thinking that was keeping her stuck to her past, stuck to old ideas about who she was, and she was now free to think anew.

The Power is immense, it is limitless, and it responds to our belief – and even the tendency of our belief. As we expand our concept of who we are and what we are capable of, so too does It respond in kind. It is as we believe. We only need be receptive to the Power that is already there.