Remembering Our Divine Reality

by Rev. Leroy Zemke, Pastor

Temple of the Living God

St. Petersburg, Florida

"Every man is the builder of a Temple called his body...We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones. Any nobleness begins at once to refine man's features, any meanness or sensuality to imbrute him." Walden-Henry D. Thoreau

"The Kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17:21

For many people around the world, living life is a daily struggle and an experience of conflict and confusion. From establishing some place to live, working to provide food, dealing with other humans and their complex needs and issues, to surviving varying and changeable environmental elements and conditions-such as severe heat or severe cold, floods, landslides, earthquakes, drought, epidemics, etc.-and then having to deal with pests (insects, rodents, predators) can and often does drive one to ask, "Isn't there anything more to life.?"

This leads to our hypothesis, is there a Divine Reality that is behind all of the vargaries and appearances of human experiences? Enlightenment sages and seers, spiritual writers from ancient to modern times concur in their teachings which define and reveal such a Reality. Such a Power or Presence is and ever has been available to all of humankind. They assert that this Power is behind all appearances and all manifestations of the human condition. They further postulate that our "work" is for us to individually uncover, discover, and come into a resonance with It, however and wherever we live our lives. Remembering It is the choice. Recalling It is an option and a privilege once we are introduced to It.

So, how do we remember our connection to Divine Reality? Let's explore some simple, yet significant steps (ways, factors) that can help us, each one, to participate in our remembering process.

1. Learn to take time to appreciate the little things in life. For many of us, far too much of our lives is spent in seeking or trying to accumulate (and maintain) that which ultimately is of now essential value, or of questionable value. Stop. Look. Listen. Have you recently paused to smell a fresh batch of homemade cookies, or even those in the bakeries of your shopping centers? Did you stop to sample one? How long has it been since you picked or purchased some flowers for yourself or for another? Can you recall when you last relished the moment in the appreciation of the incredible softness of predawn light or the quiet majesty of a shimmering sunset? How recently have you stopped, really stopped to admire a baby...or by contrast, the gentle, tender smile of an older person? Have you really listened to a bird's morning song lately? Or have you sat upon a barren beach absorbing and becoming one with the relentless intensity of the waves as the waters rush toward and recede from the shore. STOP. LOOK. LISTEN. Life is occurring for you...right where you are... in little (or big) increments. Stop. Look. Listen. Appreciate the little things... the little, "ordinary" everyday things... of great value!

2. TIME OUT! Recently, a married lady friend mentioned that she and her husband and two children took a family holiday. They spent 5 days together. Five twenty-four hour days together. All day. All night. Toward the end of their five days, she noticed that there was a sense of tension, irritability and a general malaise occurring. This wonderful family vacation which had been planned and talked about for over a year...this fabulous outing which was costing a substantial amount of money, including time and inconvenience of being away from home...this glorious opportunity for sharing and bonding was somehow going sour. The Words TIME OUT! flashed into her mind on the fifth morning, the last day of their vacation. She suggested to her husband that they cancel the plans for the day and just let everyone choose to do what they wanted. The children wanted to play around the swimming pool. Dad, as it turned out, really wanted to remain right where they were himself, reading and sleeping. Mom just wanted to sit and relax, first in the sun, anywhere, and not go anyplace either. Once the choices had been made, the day flowed together seamlessly.. and everyone had a break from "the Schedule".

Take a break from your regular schedule, your appointed rounds of daily-weekly-monthly activities which you pursue in a repetitious circle. Too many of us plan every moment of every day of our lives because the world out there says "Do It All!" We read, we study, we travel, we work, work work! We try to be too many things to or for too many people, including

those we love most. How do we take such a Time Out break?

a.) Make a list of all the things you actually do in one 24 hour period. Include chores such as cooking, running errands, attending to personal needs (getting a hair cut, picking up the laundry). This will help you get a clearer picture of what you are attempting and managing in one day. Make a similar list for each additional day of one regular week of you life.

b.) Now look at your first list. What can be reasonably delayed (postponed) to another day in the week or another time? What really needs to be accomplished? Is there anything that can be eliminated? Simply draw a line through any such activity and also through anything that can be postponed for the future. In a similar manner go through you lists for the rest of the week.

c.) Now plan a TIME OUT space in you week's schedule. It may be a Saturday morning or a Wednesday afternoon and evening. Time out means - Take a rest. Take a walk. Anywhere. It doesn't "need to be" in a park 30 minutes from where you live. In your own neighborhood will do just fine! Perhaps you need to rest, to sleep, or just be still. No work. No activity. No watching television. No listening to a tape or a radio. No going to a movie. No calling a friend or family member. Just be with you. Just get quiet. Give yourself the gift of solitude, stillness, peace. Thus do we reconnect with the Presence within.

Remembering our divine reality is less about rushing hither and yon to gather new information by going to classes, reading the latest best-selling metaphysical publication, attending the lectures and/or workshops of this, that of the other leading New Thought guru..as it is more about absorbing that which we have already studied and contemplating that which we know.

A friend recently shared that after attending ten years if conferences all over the U.S. on alternative health and healing methods, the single biggest discovery he made was in the consistent and gentle doing, the practicing of that which he already knew (In his instance, it was Tai Chai.)

Remembering our divine nature (reality) occurs in gentle often simple experiences. Is a whole bush abloom with roses more magnificent than a single rose on one tender stem? U think not. But if we discount the single rose and await only the full bush to bloom, we thus predetermine our sense of connection. We delay our good. We blunt our sense of realizing that the Infinite is present, right now, right were we are. It is in the little things that we possess our souls. We have but to look.

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts
find rest in today. Take Heaven!
No peace lies in the future
which is not hidden in the present.
Take Peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow.
Behind it, yet within our reach is joy. Take joy!
There is radiance and glory in the darkness
could we but see, and to see, we have only to look.
I beseech you to look.
Fra Giovanni

This selection is provided as a courtesy to interested parties. Neither WholeARTS ^tm nor The Psychic Internet ^tm is responsible for the accuracy of the information.